The drought that ravaged Texas this summer killed millions of trees, only a small percentage of which will be salvageable for lumber or even wood chips, according to the state’s Forest Service. The Texas Forest Service estimates that, so far, the drought has killed 100 million to 500 million trees statewide.
“If you wait too long, they will not be suitable for most forest products. Decay will set in and the trees will become much less useful,” said Burl Carraway, head of Sustainable Forestry at the Texas Forest Service office in College Station.
Carraway told StateImpact Texas that after a tree dies, it’s salvageable for another four months at best. The challenge is getting to the dead trees in time; many are deep within forests or on private land that may be inaccessible.
Following past natural disasters, the Forest Service estimated that less than 10% of downed trees were ever salvaged. The Forest Service expects even less to be salvaged from the drought since the dead trees are scattered much more widely than normal, making it less cost effective to gather them up.