(Kathy Huber, Houston Chronicle)
The numbers are ugly. A whopping 301 million trees have died across state forestlands as a result of the 2011 drought, the Texas A&M Forest Service reported Tuesday.
The latest count was determined after a three-month, on-the-ground study of hundreds of forested plots, as well as satellite imagery from before and after the drought. It includes trees killed directly by the drought and those so weakened that they succumbed to insects and disease.
The Brazos Valley region took the heaviest hit, losing nearly 10 percent of its trees on forested land. North Texas and western northeast Texas lost 8.3 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively.
Harris County is included in the 6.5 percent loss in the western section of southeast Texas. That’s nearly 19 million fewer trees than the near 290 million live tree count before the drought. Far east stretches of southeast Texas got better news: a 1.3 percent loss, down 7.5 million trees from pre-drought 597.1 million live trees.
The 301 million count falls about midway of the forest service’s previous estimates of 100 to 500 million drought-related tree deaths.
Although still a huge toll, the good news is the forest is resilient, says Burl Carraway, department head for the Texas A&M Forest Service Sustainable Forestry department. Young, new trees eventually grow in the place of fallen dead trees.
(Read more of this story at Houston Chronicle)
ALSO SEE:
- The Final Numbers Are In: Over 300 Million Trees Killed By the Texas Drought (State Impact Texas)
- Drought claims hundreds of millions of trees (KPRC 2 News)
LOCAL HEADLINES:
Community activists hold protest at City Hall over fatal shooting of double amputee (KTRK 13 News)- Hart: How could police shooting of amputee happen here? (Houston Chronicle)
- Helping Our Heroes: Houston Congressman Writes Bill To Help Veterans (KUHF Public Radio)
- Woman gives child to CPS, gets charged with abuse (KTRK 13 News)
- Day care for the elderly (KRIV 26 News)
- Treating prostitutes as victims, not criminals (KRIV 26 News)
- Birth control for kids: Houston parents weigh in (KRIV 26 News)
- Congresswoman Promotes National Voter Registration Day (KUHF Public Radio)
STATE, NATION & WORLD
- Court Finds Open Meetings Act Constitutional (Texas Tribune)
- Perry notes education needs in ongoing call for strict spending (Houston Chronicle)
- Wide Pay Gap Persists Between Texas Women And Men (KUHF Public Radio)
Appeals court tosses out landmark Katrina ruling (USA Today)
- Program tries to get minority kids buckled up (USA Today)
- Seeking Allies, Teachers’ Unions Court G.O.P., Too (New York Times)
- Obama Talks Of Slavery, Romney Of Freedom At Clinton Global Initiative (NPR)
- Syrian children speak of beatings, burnings, electric shocks (AlertNet/Reuters)