Drought, in varying degrees of severity, still grips nearly 50% of the United States. Also afflicted are parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada (see “Alberta Drought” below). The two areas of the United States most seriously affected by the drought are the East Coast from Maine to Georgia and an area of the West that stretches from Montana to Texas.

The drought has had a broad impact on domestic and wild horse populations of the West, including wildfires that have consumed more than one million acres, some of it grazing range for wild horses. Many fires are still burning, sending a gray pall of smoke over several western states