Resources from Eric Simpson Landscaping

What is a drought? Generally, the term “drought” refers to a deficiency in water supply. According to Merriam-Webster.com, a drought is “a period of dryness especially when prolonged; specifically: one that causes extensive damage to crops or prevents their successful growth.”

But there’s much more to the drought problem than crops. Yes, damage to crops is serious and, on a large scale, can ultimately lead to famine, since drought conditions can provide too little water to support either food crops the grain crops needed to feed livestock. When drought undermines or destroys food sources, people go hungry. When a drought is severe and continues over a long period, famine may occur. Drought can also cause many other major social problems, such as thirst, disease, wildfires, social conflict, and mass migration. Dire apocalyptic predictions from science fiction? Perhaps. But there is a growing body of scholarly research that suggests the entire Pacific Northwest is heading into a major drought cycle that may last for many years or decades. What does that mean for the good residents of the Rogue Valley on a day-to-day basis?

We now have more people, more lawns (which require a tremendous amount of water) and landscaping everywhere, including water features. We have new homes with indoor plumbing, washing machines, car washes, and on and on…basically, a much greater demand for water than ever before. And as this demand keeps increasing, the signs point to less water becoming available. We’ve already seen it: Mt. Ashland did not even open for the 2013-14 ski season. The only snowpack check site that had any signficant snowpack to report was Big Red Mountain. Our watershed is so overtaxed that even Ashland’s city council, already infamous for its disagreements and the need for outside assistance with making decisions, unanimously voted to bring in water from Big Butte Springs. That ought to make even the most die-hard skeptics sit up and take notice: Ashland, we have a problem.

So what can we do about it? Simple: use less water. In practice, however, that’s anything but simple. In landscaping, there are a number of viable solutions that Eric Simpson Landscaping can help you implement, but like any substantial change, these would require a significant mindset shift. We must begin to think in new ways about how our landscapes are going to look – certainly not worse, just different. There are many attractive options: eliminating or reducing the size of lawns, use of natural landscape materials, and planting native and/or drought-tolerant species, to name just a few. Contact us to discuss how we can help your landscaping beat the drought!

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