Note: This version of the Drought Impact Reporter is being phased out. Please update your bookmarks to go.unl.edu/dirdash.
To understand the impacts of drought on plants, animals and people, it is very helpful to monitor conditions regularly, whether the weather is wet or dry. That way we know how a drought year differs from a normal year, and we learn how different plants and animals go into and come out of drought. Regular condition monitoring can also help identify expected seasonal changes versus changes caused by unseasonal wet or dry conditions. This type of monitoring can also help us start to identify long-term or cumulative effects of drought.
It would be ideal if you decide to report on a single indicator at regular intervals, such as every month or season. You can also include other information in your report, but we’d really like to have a continuous set of observations about a single indicator. It might be easiest to do ongoing reporting if it’s something you can quantify, such as the height of corn, or the number of customers at a water-related outfitter. If you have questions or would like to organize a network of observers, please contact Kelly Helm Smith, ksmith2@unl.edu, 402-472-3373.
Ideas for what to monitor the condition of fall into several categories, sometimes more than one: