Natural Hazards bserver VolumeO XXXIX • Number 4 March 2015 Eighty Years of Dust A History of Drought in the Midwest Blowing Changes A Town, A Tornado, and a Team Outside the Walls by Bruce Boyd Raeburn by Jack Rozdilsky & Nick Swope by Zachary Lamb The mission of the Natural Hazards Center is to ad- vance and communicate knowledge on hazards mitigation and disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Using an all-hazards and interdisciplinary framework, the Cen- Contents ter fosters information sharing and integration of activi- ties among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers From the Editor......................................................3 from around the world; supports and conducts research; and provides educational opportunities for the next gen- Great Plains or Great Desert................................4 eration of hazards scholars and professionals. The Natu- America’s Breadbasket is Running Dry ral Hazards Center is funded through a National Science By Elke Weesjes Foundation grant and supplemented by contributions from a consortium of federal agencies and nonprofit orga- Eighty Years of Dust ............................................8 nizations dedicated to reducing vulnerability to disasters. The Dustbowl Revisited A photo essay by Tiffany Hagler Geard Staff Andrea Bravo...............................................Library Assistant Blowing Changes ................................................14 Jolie Breeden..............................................Program Associate New Orleans’ Jazz Musicians a Decade after Nnenia Campbell......................................Research Assistant Hurrican Katrina Aria Dellepiane............................................Library Assistant By Bruce Boyd Raeburn RoseMarie Perez Foster...............Senior Research Associate Wanda Headley............................................Library Manager A Tornado, a Town, and a Team.........................18 Kaitlin Hergenrider.....................................Library Assistant Football as a Catalyst for Disaster Recovery Ed Hill................................................... ......................Librarian By Jack L. Rozdilsky and Nick Swope Victor Vera Morales .........................................Library Assistant Urooj Raja.........................................................Research Assistant Outside the Walls.................................................22 Courtney Richard..........................................Editorial Assistant Flood Vulnerability and the Paradox of Protection Liesel A. Ritchie..............................................Associate Director at the Edges of New Orleans Kathleen Tierney.................................................................Director By Zachary Lamb Jamie Vickery ..................................................Research Assistant Courtney Welton-Mitchell ........................Research Associate From Academia to Practical Application and Elke Weesjes..............................................................................Editor Back Again............................................................28 Involving Undergraduate Students in Hazards and Disaster Internships Research Affiliates By Lori Peek Dennis S. Mileti..........................................Director Emeritus Lori Peek....................................... Colorado State University Deborah Thomas.............University of Colorado at Denver Librarian’s Pick....................................................32 Conferences and Training..................................34 Observer cartoons are drawn by Rob Pudim. Contracts and Grants...........................................36 Announcements...................................................37 2 Natural Hazards Observer • March 2015 From the Editor •••• WELCOME TO ANOTHER issue of the Natural Hazards Observer. This month, you’ll find a range of diverse and exciting topics that empha- size the human element in disaster—how we help cause them, how we memorialize them, and most of all, our indomitable spirit in recovering from them. We begin with this issue’s cover story and a photo essay, which not only commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Black Sunday Storm — the most notorious storm of the 1930s Dust Bowl—but also explore the social and environmental impacts of that drought and subsequent dry spells. In an era characterized by climate change, worsening water crises, and global economic uncertainty, the Dust Bowl years are more rele- vant than ever. If examined closely, they have much to teach about how to prepare for and respond to the acute socio-environmental challenges that will continue to emerge in the near future. Luckily, these lessons haven’t been lost—mainly because of the im- portant place they hold in the nation’s memory thanks to the iconic images of U.S. Farm Security Administration photographers. Simi- On the Cover larly, hundreds of popular books and films have explored the travails brought on by the Dust Bowl, including John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Farmer Tom Vincent, Deerfield, Kansas, Wrath (1939). And public fascination with the era hasn’t waned. In fact, © Tiffany Hagler-Geard there’s been a resurgence of public attention caused by 2008 financial crisis, recent droughts in the Midwest and California, and the 2012 re- lease of Ken Burn’s documentary The Dust Bowl. Tom Vincent is a retired veterinar- Aside from photography, literature, and film, we’ve included two ian and part-time farmer who lives more articles that emphasize how cultural expressions serve as a cata- in Deerfield, Kansas. He was born af- lyst for disaster recovery. ter the Dust Bowl, but remembers the The first is a detailed look at how jazz contributed to New Orleans’ drought and the dust storms of the rehabilitation after Katrina. In this piece, Bruce Boyd Raeburn exam- 1950s well. ines how musicians who were involved in the city’s recovery — who he “My father had a farm here in Kear- calls jazz ambassadors — continue to play important roles as guardians ny County and from the age of twelve, of communal heritage. Meanwhile, Jack Rozdilsky and Nick Swope I would drive the tractor even though I will tell the inspirational story of a high school football team’s recov- was too short to turn the tractor on and ery efforts after a devastating tornado. Their article highlights how the off. I remember that one time, I was services of a small town’s football team can be translated to other rural picked up by my father after I had fin- U.S. communities facing disaster recovery. ished for the day. During the drought Of course, our understanding of disaster and how we recover from it often got dark early because dust it isn’t entirely based on cultural icons—sometimes it’s inherent in the clouds would suddenly move in. My culture itself. That’s what Zachary Lamb learned when he went to three dad turned off the tractor and parked very different communities in South Louisiana in 2014. Lamb set out to it on the side of the field. examine how the people that lived just outside of New Orleans’ levees The next morning we came back and perceived their vulnerability to flooding and what steps they took to all we could see sticking out of the dirt reduce it. He learned from his interviews that place—and the under- was the steering wheel and the seat of standing it gives us of who we are—greatly affect the way in which we the tractor. There was just a tremen- perceive disaster risk. dous amount of dirt.” From football players and jazz musicians who fought for their com- Perhaps as a result of his experiences munities to the Great Plains farmers who hunkered down through a as a young boy, Vincent is very con- decade of dust, this issue of the Observer will remind you that people cerned about soil erosion and focuses are surprisingly resilient and adaptive. on sustainability rather than just on maximizing yields. He sold his plough ten years ago and his farm has been 100 Enjoy your Observer. percent no-till ever since. As such, he is part of a small but growing group of farmers who actively look for environ- Elke Weesjes, Editor mentally sound farming practices. [email protected] 2 Natural Hazards Observer • March 2015 Natural Hazards Observer • March 2015 3 Great Plains or Great Desert? America’s Breadbasket is Running Dry By Elke Weesjes WHEN UNITED STATES ARMY CAPTAIN Zebulon Great Plains is also increasingly plagued by the impact of Montgomery Pike (1806-1807) was sent out by President manmade disasters—namely the water crisis and climate Thomas Jefferson to explore the southern portion of the change. Largely as a result of these environmental condi- Louisiana territory, he was less than impressed with what tions, the numbers of farms in the Midwest is decreasing he found. He labeled the region he traveled through in and young people—the supposed lifeblood and future of present-day Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas these communities—have been moving away for decades as the “Great American Desert,” an area unfit for human (Wilson 2013). habitation and agriculture. A recent study (Cook, Ault, and Smerdon 2015) predicts “These vast plains of the Western Hemisphere may be- a decade-long megadrought in the second half of the 21st come in time equally celebrated as the sandy deserts of Af- century, and scientists (Steward, et al. 2013) warn that the rica; for I saw in my route, in various places, tracts of many Ogallala aquifer will be depleted by 2060. These views leagues, where the wind had thrown up the sand, in all the suggest that the