The National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) traveled to California February 24-26, 2009, for two RMA drought informational workshops that highlighted the decision support and risk management tools and projects that the NDMC maintains.
This workshop focused on the overall RMA tools, with the Drought Impact Reporter (DIR), VegDRI, VegOut, and The GreenLeaf Project (a collaborative RMA project between the NDMC and University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Computer Science and Engineering Center) being introduced to a group of 75 participants that represented producers, ranchers, media personnel, National Weather Service, NOAA, private biosciences businesses, Yolo County FSA, University of California-Davis Extension, Recreation and Tourism, USDA-NRCS, and the USDA-RMA office within the area. Local presentations included an overview of the recent climate conditions from the California State Climatologist, the National Weather Service office out of Sacramento, and also a presentation by the USDA-FSA office which centered on an overview of the California Drought Declaration Process.