We are technically in a drought but it is not universally apparent from random observations. The local forest foliage is green and overgrown. Almost every pond or lake in the area is full. If you have a modestly sized lawn, it is green (if you have a young dog that likes to run around chasing sticks, catching them in flight while high jumping and then crashing to the ground, you may have brown and dusty spots).
The drought evidence of note is in the inbound and outbound streams to the beaver bog. In the case of the outbound stream that also feeds the local pond, it is bone dry. This part of the stream never went dry until a few years ago when the combination of local residential development (individual water wells at every home) and lower annual rainfall has resulted in late summer dry stream beds. This year, the dry stream also has to contend with a resurgence of the beavers. The beavers have dammed both the inbound and outbound streams to the now-more-accurately-named “Beaver Bog.”
The damming of the inbound stream has dramatically lowered the water level, as seen in this photo (top, left). All of the brown earthen area was underwater at the end of winter.
