Forest Service Surveys Drought Destruction
The Texas Forest Service has estimated that last year's drought killed hundreds of millions of trees, but those are only educated guesses. Now the agency is launching a more scientific survey that will provide a much more accurate picture of the destruction the drought left behind.
The Texas Forest Service estimated last year that between 100 million and 500 million trees may have died in the drought, and in wildfires across the state. At the low end, that’s 2 percent of the state's total tree cover. At the high end, that’s 10 percent of the trees.
Over the next two months, forestry crews will fan out across the state. They'll choose 700 spots at random and count dead trees within a 75-foot radius.
A Forest Service spokesman says this survey will produce a more accurate count, and provide more data on where the damage was the worst.
The results of this survey could be available by August, but the Forest Service says it will be assessing the long-term effects of the drought for years to come. Texas landowners need to know how this tree count will affect them.
There's more information on the TFS website.
via Texas Forest Service.
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