|« Back to Article| Texas drought killed 301 million trees By
Kathy Huber | September 25, 2012 | Updated: September 26, 2012
7:52am 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.