Thousands of stranded fish rescued in dry Nevada

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Volunteers joined Nevada wildlife officials this week in a rescue mission to save thousands of stranded trout and other fish from irrigation ditches that have been cut off from Truckee River water supplies due to drought in the Reno area.

Two dozen wader-clad rescuers splashed through the knee-deep ditches that soon will be going dry, netting an estimated 6,000 fish over two days.

Most were returned Wednesday to the Truckee River near Verdi, just west of Reno, where a rare stretch of wet August weather helped boost flows the past few days with more than an inch of precipitation.

Wildlife officials say the moisture helped, but it doesn't put much of a dent in the lingering drought, now in its third year.

"We're trying to make sure the fish in there get a second chance," Nevada Department of Wildlife spokesman Chris Healy said.

"Nobody likes to see a natural resource go to waste. We would have seen a lot of fish go to waste," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The Truckee Meadows Water Authority shut off flows last week to the ditches that deliver river water to power generation and hydroelectric plants the authority operates.

"With the drought conditions, the water is going to disappear from these canals," said Kim Toulouse, volunteer program manager for the state wildlife agency. "All the fish that are in the canals are basically stranded."

Natural disaster areas declared in US

The United States Department of Agriculture has declared natural disaster areas in more than 1,000 counties and 26 drought-stricken states, making it the largest natural disaster in America ever.

The declaration—which covers roughly half of the country—gives farmers and ranchers devastated by drought access to federal aid, including low-interest emergency loans.

"Agriculture remains a bright spot in our nation's economy," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday while announcing the assistance program. "We need to be cognizant of the fact that drought and weather conditions have severely impacted farmers around the country."

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, more than half the country (56 percent) experienced drought conditions—the largest percentage in the 12-year history of the service. And according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the period from January through June was "the warmest first half of any year on record for the contiguous United States."