Nebraska Extension and USDA Partners Set April Wildfire Recovery Informational Meetings for Farmers and Ranchers

Mar 31, 2026

By Geitner Simmons

Nebraska Extension and two federal partner agencies will hold informational meetings on wildfire recovery April 8-10 in western Nebraska to help farmers and ranchers learn about available resources and address local needs. The program will include information on wildfire disaster relief programs and technical assistance, grazing and cropping options, recovery resources, mental health support and next steps.

Three meetings are scheduled from 3:30 to 6 p.m. (local time). A meal will be served at 6 p.m. by Hot Meals USA to encourage group conversation and idea sharing.

The meeting will be on April 8 at the Arthur Veterans Memorial Hall; April 9 at the Brady Community Center; and April 10 at the Oshkosh City Auditorium.

The meetings will include presentations by Nebraska Extension professionals and representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Specific topics will include:

FSA disaster assistance programs.
NRCS disaster recovery and technical assistance.
Range and pasture recovery.
Extension resources.
Farmer/rancher fire experiences.
Mental health resources.
Support moving forward.
Next steps.

The meetings will focus on information sharing, learning from one another, and discussing the best steps in moving forward.

As part of the outreach effort, Nebraska Extension has wildfire recovery information online at https://disaster.unl.edu/. Nebraska FSA wildfire resources are linked at fsa.usda.gov/ne in the Spotlights section.

Source : unl.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.