Drought

The University of Maryland Cooperative Extension has information on the Internet to help residents deal with drought-related water restrictions. The site has watering tips for drought conditions, water conservation and other topics at: www.agnr.umd.edu/users/hgic/home.html . Information is also distributed, and questions will be answered, at 1-800-342-2507. For information on water-use restrictions, call the state's toll-free drought hotline at 1-877-437-6844 or visit the Web site at www.mde.

By BRYN MICKLE / Staff Writer, Martinsburg photo: RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The drought that has strangled farms in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia could cut orchard profits by as much as 25 percent this year, according to several growers in the region. While the drought has not hit orchards as hard as it has hit farmers the losses are substantial, Smithsburg-area orchardist J.D. Rinehart said. [cont.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Eastern Panhandle farmers who have been hit hard by the drought are being offered federal assistance in Berkeley and Jefferson counties. Farm owners can go to USDA service centers in Martinsburg and Ranson to sign up for emergency grain and hay supplies and file loss claims for federal aid, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service spokeswoman Peg Reese said Thursday. Gov. Cecil Underwood has asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman to declare a federal agricultural disaster in the state.

tarar@herald-mail.com TRI-STATE AREA - While the rainfall over the last seven weeks has replenished shallow streams and wells, municipalities throughout the Tri-State area need above-average precipitation for the next several months to end drought conditions, farming officials and weather observers say. "It helps, but we're nowhere near being out of the drought," Smithsburg weather observer Jim Vaughn said. "Little Beaver Creek is still bone dry, and that has never gone bone dry before.

By KAREN MASTERSON Staff Writer CHAMBERSBURG - The Franklin County Fair suffered two blows for this year's week-long event: rain on Wednesday and dry sunshine throughout most of the spring and summer. "Entries were down this year because of the drought," said Dick Ernst, vice president of the Franklin County Fair, a nonprofit organization that runs the fair every year. He said the drought and a drenching rain on Wednesday prevented this year's turnout form matching the crowd of 38,000 that visited the fair in 1996.

Briefly Farmers eligible for drought grants WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., announced that farmers whose grazing pastures were damaged as a result of last year's drought will be eligible for grants to re-seed the land. Byrd helped secure $40 million for the revegetation grants. The USDA will accept applications for the Pasture Recovery Program between March 20 and at least April 14, according to a press release from Byrd's office. The maximum farmers will be eligible for is $2,500, Byrd said.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Farmers and businessmen detailed the extent of drought damage to their operations and how state government can help during a hearing Tuesday before the Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee. [cont. from news page ] "As the days and weeks went by and the rain didn't come, we did get discouraged and, yes, even depressed at times," Stanley Burkholder told a group of 20 Democratic legislators at the state Capitol Building. Burkholder's family owns Burk-Lea Farms near Scotland, Pa., in Franklin County.

Autumn's rich colors may give way to bare trees if the drought persists, according to horticulture experts. They say it's too early to predict whether dry weather will dull fall foliage, but a lack of rain leads to leaves dropping early. Trees shed their leaves to survive in drought and some already have started. "Plants may decide this year it is not beneficial for us to stay open for business, so to speak," said Mike Galvin, urban operations manager for the Department of Natural Resources Forest Service.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - This summer's drought has claimed another victim - Renfrew's annual Pumpkin Fest. Normally, Renfrew's pumpkin patch yields hundreds of the big round squash that signify autumn and Halloween. This year, said Melodie Anderson-Smith, director of the Renfrew Institute for Cultural and Environmental Studies, it only produced a handful. "We don't have the money to go out and buy pumpkins. That could cost us $1,000," she said. The Pumpkin Fest - this was to be the sixth annual - usually nets the Institute and Renfrew Museum and Park, both of which share the same grounds, from $1,400 to $2,000 each, Anderson-Smith said.

McCONNELLSBURG, Pa. - Officials from five agencies sponsored three drought meetings in Fulton County Friday to provide advice and information to residents. Only a handful of people showed up. The meetings in Hustontown, McConnellsburg and Needmore brought together the Fulton County Conservation District, the county Emergency Management Agency, Penn State Extension Office and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service.

While Boonsboro hasn't won a girls cross country title since 1995, and its boys never have placed higher than second, the Warriors might have the runners to contend for both Maryland Class 1A championships this fall. One thing's for sure, Boonsboro indeed has runners - a program-record 51 of them (25 girls and 26 boys). “There's a lot of bodies working hard,” Warriors coach Becky Walter said. The Boonsboro girls return four of their top seven runners from last year's team that won the Washington County title and finished second at states, including senior Sarah Zielinski, junior Kortney Cunningham and sophomore Ella Hawkins, who took three of the top six places at the county championships last fall.

A growing season that included 2 1/2 weeks of nearly 100-degree days and, later, excessive rainfall is causing problems for farmers in southcentral Pennsylvania. “It's not an easy season to be a farmer,” said Steve Bogash, a regional horticulture educator for the Penn State Cooperative Extension. Franklin and Fulton counties each experienced about 9 inches of rain beyond what is normal in the past 60 days, according to Craig Evanego, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

It's been a long time since Ronnie DeHaven Jr. found the path back to Victory Lane Saturday with a brand new yellow Mastersbilt chassis race car featuring his usual 1D number on the side at Hagerstown Speedway. DeHaven zipped around last week's first-time Late Model winner, Ashley Barrett, as they navigated through heavy lapped traffic. DeHaven held on to win the caution-free 25-lap 31st annual Ernie D's Shorty Bowers/Bull Durham Championship by several car lengths. “I don't know if I've got room for a (feature win)

For months, the Tomstown (Pa.) pump has been dry, and Quincy Township Supervisor Bob Gunder said no one is exactly sure why. The pump, which people use to fill containers for drinking and cooking, is connected to a spring three-quarters of a mile away. Gunder said a half-dozen homes are connected to the same private line. "It's low (water pressure) for them, but they're still using it," Gunder said this week, after speaking to some of the property owners. Those homeowners believe the water table is low because of a drought that started last May, Gunder said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A cluster of counties in eastern West Virginia and neighboring portions of Maryland and Virginia was one of only four areas in the nation that was experiencing "extreme drought" conditions last week, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Dry conditions have exacted a significant toll on the harvest at area orchards and farms, and the forecast into next year isn't promising thanks to a predicted La Nina climate pattern, according to National Drought Mitigation Center climatologist Brian Fuchs.

The 1.42 inches of rain that fell Thursday in Hagerstown is a "vast improvement" for the dry conditions, but the area remains in a D2 drought condition, which is considered severe, according to a National Weather Service spokesman. The area needs about 3 to 5 inches of rain to return to normal conditions, Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va., said Thursday. In addition to rain that could continue into Friday, Jackson said the area could see more precipitation next week when a low frontal system is expected to move in. Thursday's rain began in the morning when a line of thunderstorms swept through the Tri-State area, leaving thousands of residents without power and keeping emergency crews busy.

This summer's dry skies and excessive heat have combined to create conditions that one local farmer said are unlike anything he can recall. "I think this is the worst drought I ever saw, and I'll be 80 years old in a couple days," said Roy Byers, whose family owns a dairy farm and orchard off Downsville Pike. The Interagency Drought Information Center has categorized conditions as a "severe drought" in Washington County and the eastern half of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, according to a drought information statement from the National Weather Service.

This year's hot, dry summer is challenging even master gardeners. At the Washington County Agricultural Education Center along Sharpsburg Pike, the Washington County Master Gardeners show the public how the county's settlers raised crops. The process is illustrated through a German four-square garden, a planting area divided into smaller square plots that was popular among German and Swiss immigrants. This summer, with its relentless record-breaking heat, has baked the ground and provided little rain.

HAGERSTOWN SPEEDWAY Frankie Plessinger celebrated the holiday weekend by winning the 45th annual Johnny Roberts Memorial at Hagerstown Speedway on Saturday night for the biggest victory of his career. It was the first win since April 2009 for Plessinger, the current late model points leader, and the ninth late model victory of his career. Other winners were Kyle Lear, of Severna Park, Md., who scored his season first in the Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic late model sportsman feature, while Hagerstown's Mike Warrenfeltz scored the sixth win of the season in the Ernie D's pure stocks.

o Slide show Wyatt Scriever threw the first pitch of the game and hit the last pitch. The lanky 12-year-old right-hander struck out nine in 3 2/3 innings and delivered the final blow in the bottom of the fifth inning to give Conococheague a 12-2 victory over West End and the Maryland District 1 11-12 championship, its first since 1974. Conococheague will play in the state tournament beginning July 25 at 1 p.m., against an opponent to be determined at Stetham Park in Waldorf.