According to the Texas Forest Service as many as 500 million trees may have died from the effects of the 2011 drought. While it is difficult to determine the true extent of the loss at present, an estimate puts the figure at between 100 and 500 million trees. The service will use satellite data and aerial photography in the spring to obtain a better picture. Jerry
Not surprised here. Up until the natural dormancy took place, you couldn't find a yard, office complex or public park that didn't have dead trees and shrubs. The Ft. Worth Parks Dept thinks they lost at least 500 trees but won't know a final total until next spring when they count the trees that don't leaf out. Does that total include the wooded areas lost to fires? If not then that total could double.
That is horrible! Toni - you have mentioned rain lately. How much did you get and how has it affected the drought situation there?
I saw that report on the news the other night. And that is a really shocking number. I think it was like 1 out of 10 that died? Now... only if those awful Tallow trees would have been the only ones to die... no one around here would complain! I believe the Houston area is still around the minus 24" mark for the year. But the recent rains have the lakes and rivers up a few feet... but it's still about 2-3 feet lower than normal. There's rain in the forecast for tomorrow and again for a couple of days next week.
We have some ashe junipers (cedars) that are brown. I scratched the bark and found green, so we are hoping that they drop their dead needles and green out in the spring (they are NOT a deciduous tree, but this year is really different). The local parks are reporting dead trees, but won't know the extent of the damage until spring. If we have a hard winter with lots of cold, the weaker trees that are still alive may succumb. We have had one of the wettest Decembers on record for Central Texas, go figure! We are still below average for the year, but with rain predicted for later this week, we may approach the average. We are replacing any dead trees with only natives (no tallows, Cheryl!) since they provide habitat and seem to survive better.
Parts of north central Texas have had a few inches of rain this month but that does nothing to alleviate the drought. It soaks into the ground but the ground is so dry there is no runoff to fill the rivers and lakes. And 3 inches of rain falling into a lake raises the lake level only by 3 inches. Most of the lakes and water reservoirs around here are still anywhere from 3 Feet to 15 Feet below where they should be to keep up with the water demands of the cities they serve. This area is about 10 inches behind on yearly rain amount total but until we get between 10-20 inches more rain there will be no runoff to bring the lake levels back up. And the prediction is for the drought conditions to return by spring and summer so the lakes may not have a chance to refill and will be even lower by summer.
There were dead trees along the fence lines everywhere we went throughout the summer and fall. Factor in the ones killed by fires and it will be a huge amount. One in the neighbor's yard just fell over in the wind. It was just dry tinder. We seem to be on the edge of all the rain. It passes us to the west mostly or northeast to Louisiana. We've had maybe three or four inches. All the stock ponds are still empty. dooley
