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<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on"><B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA</SPAN></FONT></B></st1:place><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"> WATER
CONDITIONS:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Drought persists
despite heavy snow<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Lassen</SPAN></FONT></B></st1:PlaceName><B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></SPAN></FONT></B></st1:place><B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"> Times –
1/15/08</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><A href=""></A>Jan. 15, 2008 — Despite two feet or more
of snow on the ground in some places, Lassen, Plumas, Modoc, and four other
counties are still suffering a drought disaster.<BR><BR>The new snow did not
impact drought conditions, such as “continued low reservoirs, below-average
mountain snowpack, and long-term precipitation deficits,” according to the U.S.
Drought Monitor Web site at
drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>The Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Small
Business Administration declared a drought in Lassen, Plumas, Modoc, Shasta,
Siskiyou, Tehama and <STRONG>Trinity </STRONG>counties. The disaster declaration
for Shasta and contiguous counties was based on agricultural losses beginning
Jan. 1, 2007.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>“With both those declarations in place, it does free
up small-business loans and some other things that are available through the
federal system that normally wouldn’t be available,” said Lassen County Office
of Emergency Services Chief Chip Jackson. “Through the secretary of
agriculture’s declaration, I believe, it allows for crop losses and a lot of
other things.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>Farmers and ranchers who conduct family-sized
operations can apply through July 16, 2008, for emergency loans of up to
$500,000 for actual losses as a direct result of the disaster. That’s eight
months after the two federal agencies declared the drought on Nov. 16, 2007.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>The loans will be available at an interest rate of
3.75 percent. Applicants may contact the local Farm Service Agency on
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Russell
Avenue</st1:address></st1:Street> in Susanville at 257-7272 or online at
fsa.usda.gov/pas/disaster/assistanc1.htm.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>Since the secretary of agriculture and the SBA
declared the drought, only the two federal agencies can say when the drought is
over.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>“They won’t even look at it until spring,” <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jackson</st1:place></st1:City>
said.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>Federal officials will evaluate all the rainfall and
snowfall totals reported by local agriculture departments and take into account
the water content in the snow, he said. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>Until then, farmers and ranchers may apply for the
loans.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>“They’re still eligible if they’re ag related
(losses) because the crop damages have already happened from last season,”
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Jackson</st1:City></st1:place>
said.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>Small, nonfarm companies that do business directly
with growers and producers, such as truckers and agricultural equipment or
service providers, and small agricultural cooperatives may apply for SBA
economic-injury disaster loans. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>To apply, contact SBA at 800-659-2955 or visit the
agency’s Web site at
sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Jackson</st1:place></st1:City> summarized the drought declarations for
the Lassen County Board of Supervisors at its Dec. 11 meeting. The board got
drought information in May from Lassen National Forest Fire Chief Lorene
Duffey.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>“Where we’re doing snow surveys, in some cases there
isn’t any snow to survey,” Duffey told the board at its meeting on May 15, 2007.
She reported the drought severity index found eastern <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Lassen</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> in severe drought and found
moderate drought in the west.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>In the spring of 2007, the State Water Project
estimated the snowpack ranged from 29 percent of average to 46 percent of the
normal statewide average — its lowest level in since 1989.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR>However, the California Department of Water
Resources announced no water shortages in the summer of 2007, because reservoirs
and groundwater basins were full from the winter of 2005-2006, the fifth-wettest
on record in <st1:place w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place>, according to
the Sacramento Bee. #<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><A
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