Outdoors with Don Q: Our prolonged drought has created serious problems

You can look forward to all kinds of serious problems for the rest of this year and well beyond 2015 due to our prolonged drought.

Water levels:
Our seemingly never-ending drought has taken a terrible toll on the water levels in our streams, creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes and reservoirs. Here are some examples:
In California: Boca Reservoir is at 13 percent of capacity, Stampede Reservoir is 16 percent, Prosser Reservoir 26 percent, Frenchman Reservoir 31 percent, Lake Oroville 44 percent, Shasta Lake 47 percent and Davis Lake 54 percent.

In Nevada:
Washoe Lake is bone dry.
Rye Patch Reservoir is at 5 percent of capacity.
Lahontan Reservoir on July 14, 2015 had 5,700 acre feet of water. Back on July 14, 2013, it had 73,300 acre feet.
You are being asked not to fish the Truckee River. You are being asked not to fish the Little Truckee River.
The Carson River has very low water conditions with very few places to fish. Both the East and West Walker Rivers are very low. You can't launch a boat at Sand Harbor at Lake Tahoe. Etc., etc., etc.

Fishing:
If you are a fisherman or fisherwoman, you might want to take up another sport for now or plan to fish from a boat at a large lake such as Lake Tahoe. As a matter of record, the only fishing that Elaine and I have done to date in 2015 is the salt water fishing that we just experienced in Alaska. Locally, our water levels are just too low for us to try to fish.

Fire danger:
In addition to the lack of water and poor fishing, be aware of the ever-increasing, serious fire danger surrounding us because of our current long daylight hours, hot weather, gusty afternoon winds, low humidity, bone-dry vegetation and dumb acts by humans. Not a good combination!

Our entire countryside is tinder dry, and it would only take a moment of carelessness, sparks from target shooting, illegal fireworks, a hot vehicle muffler on a dirt road, an abandoned campfire, a tossed cigarette or a lightning strike to create a roaring inferno of fire. The recent Washington Fire in nearby Alpine County, Calif., that charred some 18,000 acres of forest land, was the result of a lightning strike, dry trees, dry bushes and winds.

Be fire smart!
Trim your lower trees branches, trim shaggy bushes, cut down sagebrush, pull weeds (especially if you have cheat grass on your property), pick up pine needles and pick up pine cones.
As a matter of interest, when cheat grass dries out, it seems to take on the characteristics of gasoline when a flame encounters it. It almost instantly explodes into flames, and then you have a major fire problem on your hands.
So, if you have property, where there is a combination of weeds and cheat grass, shaggy bushes and trees with low branches, lots of pine cones and pine needles, take the time to reduce the fire danger and create a fire-safe zone.
That time and effort could make all the difference between a close call and a total disaster if a wild land fire should occur.
Keep your property neat, and if possible, create a fire safe zone around your house, vacation cabin and any sheds.
Be fire smart...Be safe.

Create a fire-safe zone:
We try to do so at our mountain cabin and here’s how: The Quilici cabin is located on a steep hillside between Portola and Davis Lake in Plumas County, Calif. On that hillside, there are pine trees of all sizes, Quaking Aspen trees, Manzanita brush, other trees and bushes, Mule Ear plants, sagebrush and cheat grass.

Our biggest problem there is twofold:
1. The never-ending accumulation of pine needles and pine cones.
2: The ever-growing and ever-spreading cheat grass.
The needles, cones and cheat grass rapidly dry out in the scorching summer heat and become a serious fire danger.

Each year, we work hard to reduce the possibility of a major problem. We have worked to clear a fire-safe zone around our cabin, which hopefully will reduce the danger, if a forest fire should erupt in that area. God Forbid! It would have been a lot more fun to drive to nearby Davis Lake to spend those days leisurely fishing for rainbow trout, but we care about our mountain-side property, so all our hard work, time and effort has resulted in a much better peace of mind regarding our cabin and its surroundings.

Hmmm:
Maybe we need to have a flock of sheep to eat that miserable cheat grass, like the sheep that are used in the Springtime on Carson City’s “C Hill.” It's a thought!

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you the amount of annual average rainfall for Carson City.
If he grins and says, "Carson City receives an annual average of 11 inches of rainfall," he has been reading the same information that Don read.

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now. Don's wife, Elaine, is the Outdoor photographer. The live in Carson City and can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com.