By Dennis Brown

Lewis County musician Roger Cooper has been invited to perform at the Alltech World Equestrian Games this week at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

“It’s a great honor,” Cooper said from his home last week.

The FEI World Equestrian Games are on the same level as the Olympics for horse enthusiasts, some rank it higher.

Cooper was chosen by a panel of arts professionals based on his quality of performance. Ultimately 64 artists were chosen to perform through the Kentucky Arts Council.

Cooper is slated to perform at Noon Thursday on stage at the Kentucky Experience Pavilion on the grounds of the 1,200 acre Kentucky Horse Park.

Cooper plays fiddle in the Lewis County style, having studied local fiddlers Uncle Joe Stamper, Buddy Thomas, Bob Prater, the Kinneys and others.

“It’s a style that’s unique to Lewis County,” Cooper said. “I learned it from the older fiddlers.”

Cooper said his goal is to promote the Lewis County style of fiddle playing that has grabbed the attention of some major record labels as well as musicians from all over.

“There are people studying this style of music,” Cooper said, quickly adding that his efforts are to preserve our local heritage for future generations as well as for those who want to learn the unique style. “It’s not about me,” he said.

The World Equestrian Games have been held every four years since 1990. Before that, each of the 10 disciplines held separate championships, usually in separate countries. The games are administered by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI).

Eight of the 10 disciplines are included in the games, going on through October 10. The games got underway in Lexington on September 25. The remaining two disciplines still conduct their own separate championships.

This year’s games are the first held outside of Europe and the first time that the eight championships will be held in one location. It is also the first time the WEG will have a title sponsor, Alltech, which has its headquarters in Nicholasville.

The world’s top riders and horses have been selected over the four years since the last WEG with each participating country (there are 57) having teams made up of the top equestrians in their discipline. There will be more than 800 athletes competing.

Alltech, the sponsor this year, is an animal health and nutrition group employing some 1,900 people in 85 countries.

The Kentucky Horse Park has added a climate-controlled, 6,000 seat indoor arena and 7,500 seat outdoor stadium in preparation for the events.

“I feel very lucky to be invited,” Cooper said.

Lewis County is included in the latest round of those under a Level I Drought Declaration.

The Office of the State Climatologist and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, in coordination with the Kentucky Drought Mitigation Team (KDMT), issued a Level I Drought Declaration for five drought management areas (DMAs). Those are in addition to the three already under the declaration

A Level I drought indicates moderate drought conditions have developed primarily affecting soil moisture and vegetative health. Serious impacts to agricultural water needs, wildfire risk and other water-sensitive sectors can be expected in the designated areas.

The current Level I Drought Declaration, initially for Western Kentucky counties, has been expanded eastward and northeast to cover areas that have widespread dryness throughout with precipitation totals of only 50 to 60 percent of normal for several consecutive months.

Substantial rainfall from the remnants of a tropical storm fell across parts of the Commonwealth, including the drought-stricken Purchase and Pennyrile regions. This rainfall did help alleviate some of the drought impacts, but many still remain and will intensify without additional rainfall.

Many counties in the central part of the state that are not within the Level I Drought Declaration are developing drought-like conditions and impacts.

These conditions are the result of the extremely high summer temperatures combined with the rapid change to a dry weather pattern over the past 30 to 60 days. If this pattern persists, it is expected that drought declarations will be declared for additional counties.

So far, the drought has primarily impacted agriculture. The dry conditions have resulted in an early harvest of corn and have substantially reduced corn and soybean yields. Pastures still recovering from previous years’ droughts have once again been negatively impacted, resulting in the early use of hay to feed livestock.

Many livestock water supplies have dried up and are forcing producers to rely on municipal suppliers, or water districts. These alternate sources result in higher costs for producers and increased demand on public water supplies. Urban landscaping has also been impacted resulting in the browning of lawns and the early loss of leaves on some trees.

Most of Kentucky’s potable water supply sources are currently at acceptable levels. Streamflows are generally low but within a normal range for September.

Isolated areas of serious low flow have been observed in Salt River basins, including Rolling Fork in Nelson County; Pond Creek in Jefferson County; West Fork Drakes Creek in Simpson County; and Eagle Creek in Gallatin County.

Weather outlooks provided by the National Weather Service indicate that chances for widespread precipitation are slight for the widespread soaking rainfall events that are needed to alleviate the drought over the next 60 to 90 days.

Isolated, spotty events with no real regional improvements in drought status are expected to continue. This will likely exacerbate the current impacts including an increased need for livestock water supplies, the selling off of livestock herds, difficulty planting winter wheat fields, and possible hay shortages.

The forecast also suggests that the drought will spread into more of the central portions of Kentucky, affecting many water supplies that are drought vulnerable.

The state Drought Mitigation and Response Plan defines a tiered approach to classifying drought severity using multiple indicators to assess the intensity and location of developing drought.

These indicators include the Drought Monitor, Palmer Drought Index, Crop Moisture Index, and precipitation and streamflow measurements.

More information about drought declaration criteria can be found in the Kentucky Drought Mitigation and Response Plan at http://water.ky.gov/wa/Documents/State%20Plan_Final.pdf

Lewis County remains under a burning ban because of the dry conditions.