Meet Shellye Arnold, the new Executive Director of the Memorial Park Conservancy. There is no doubt that it is a pivotal moment for the 89-year old-park. Decimated by the drought of 2011, Memorial Park lost thousands of trees. The conservancy – whose stated mission is to “restore, preserve and enhance Memorial Park for the enjoyment [...]
Posts Tagged ‘drought’
Our drought is severe again
Not good, y’all. The situation continues to worsen across the state, with now more than 87 percent of Texas in a moderate or worse drought. It’s not clear when relief might be coming. After the very cold start to this week southerly winds have now returned to the Houston metro area, which will bring more [...]
Water infrastructure bill passes
This is good. The Texas House on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to create a revolving, low-interest loan program to help finance a new round of reservoirs, pipelines and other water-supply projects for the drought-stricken state. Lawmakers approved House Bill 4 on a 146-2 vote, but left the question of how much seed money to provide the [...]
The drought is back
And we’re gonna be in trouble if it doesn’t rain soon. Since the middle of August, the city has gotten just a foot of rain over a time period when it should get twice that. We also have recorded six straight months of below-normal rainfall. And despite last Sunday’s splash of rain, March is likely [...]
Adventures in water marketing
The headline on this story is about Texans’ increasing interest in recycling water. That sounds nice, doesn’t it? But there’s another way of describing it that maybe isn’t so appealing. Experts say recycled wastewater will play a key role in satisfying the thirst of a rapidly growing population. While reuse now provides 2 percent of [...]
That drought we’re having? It’s still bad
So says our state climatologist in testimony before the Lege. John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist, said that during the past two years Texas received only 68 percent of its typical rainfall, making it the third driest period on record. If the extreme conditions extend through the summer, only the 1950s drought would be drier, he [...]
Who gets the water?
This will be worth watching. A simple idea has guided appropriations of Texas water for decades: First come, first served. Now, with drought conditions returning to almost the entire state, the principle is being put to the test by a fight over water in the Brazos River. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is withholding [...]
We’re still looking at a drought here
I know we just got a lot of rain this week, but that doesn’t mean that drought conditions are over. The latest seasonal drought outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that for much of Texas and the rest of the Southwest, the drought is likely to “persist or intensify” over the [...]
Finally a focus on water
The good news is that the 2013 Lege does seem to be serious about water issues. House Speaker Joe Straus recently said Texas’ water needs will be a high priority, while Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, proposed tapping the Rainy Day Fund for $1 billion to finance new infrastructure identified in [...]
Save those seeds
What would have been worse than the drought and the wildfires in Central Texas that wiped out millions of trees? Not having the wherewithal to properly reforest afterward. Thankfully, that didn’t happen, but it was a closer call than you’d have thought. The Texas A&M Forest Service was making plans to dump more than a [...]
Have I mentioned the that drought is back?
I hate to say it, but it is. A dry winter that’s on track to making the record books has sent portions of Texas, including Houston and Fort Worth, back into severe drought, raising concerns about wildfires and the health of wheat crops and tree farms. September and November could be the driest of those [...]
The drought is back
Bad news, y’all. The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor, released this morning, shows that more than three-quarters of Texas is now in at least a “moderate” drought, and nearly half the state is in a “severe” or worse drought. Now to be clear, conditions are still far better than 13 months ago, when [...]
Rodeo kicks in for tree replanting
Trail riders coming into Houston for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo traditionally camp overnight in Memorial Park on their way to the event. Last year they did this as many of the trees around them were dying from the drought. This year, the HSLR is giving back to help with that problem. On Monday, [...]
The Lege is going to have to spend some money
Whether they want to or not, there are a lot of issues that will be demanding attention and money from the Legislature when they convene in January. For example, there’s water. House Speaker Joe Straus said Friday the state’s water supply will be among his priorities after years of inaction by lawmakers. In the previous [...]
Three hundred million trees
That’s the latest estimate of the toll from last year’s drought. 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 [...]
A dollar a tree
Replacing the trees lost in the Bastrop fires last summer is going to cost some money, but there’s now a foundation working on raising that money. Flanked by containers bristling with pine tree seedlings, state and local officials on Tuesday announced a campaign to pay for an ambitious five-year plan to restore the Lost Pines [...]
Do July showers bring August hurricanes?
So we had a nice, wet, not too hot July that among other things help erase the drought in Harris County. What could possibly be bad about that? Increased risk of hurricanes, that’s what. [Impact Weather forecaster Chris] Hebert studied the 20 wettest and 20 driest Julys on record for Houston and found a striking [...]
It was more than drought that killed the trees
So say the experts. Don’t blame the drought for killing an estimated 506 million trees in Texas. At least, don’t blame it exclusively. The drought is only part of the story of why trees are dying, according to a new report by the AgriLife Extension Service at Texas A&M University. In most cases, the report [...]
Who gets to use the water?
There’s a lot more demand for an increasingly limited supply. More than miles separate the rice farms of the Texas coast and the Highland Lakes, where the outward march of Austin is marked by each new house, strip mall and marina. They are divided by how to share the water of the Colorado River, pitting [...]
Steve Brown: The Grown-Up’s Platform
The following is from a series of guest posts that I will be presenting over the next few weeks. Texas Democrats recently adopted a very progressive platform that addresses critical areas of need in our state. It also gives reasonable, mature Texans an alternative to empty ideological rhetoric. Although most headlines will center on our [...]
Fixing pipes needs to be part of the state water plan
The idea of conservation is to use less than you are currently using. When a large part of your water usage is due to leaks and losses, any sensible plan for conservation should start with addressing the underlying issues causing those leaks. About 40 percent of the pipes supplying Houston’s water are still in use [...]
Conservation is still the best water plan
The state of Texas needs to do better at it. As Texas recovers from the severe drought of the last two years, water experts say that conservation is the easiest way to ensure that the state will have enough of water for future growth. Fixing leaks is one method that took on added importance since [...]
Recycling water
The Trib continues its look at the present and future of water use in Texas with a story about reclaiming wastewater. “Reclaimed water,” the term for cleaned-up wastewater that gets reused, currently provides a little less than 3 percent of Texas’ water supply, often for purposes like irrigating golf courses. The figure is projected to [...]
Lake businesses hoping for a good summer
Sure must be tough being so dependent on factors beyond your control. Central Texas lake-area businesses dependent on customers being in, on or near water want you to know three things heading into Memorial Day weekend: Last summer wasn’t as bad as you might have thought, the water levels are up, and this summer is [...]
It sure would be nice if The Lege would do something about the drought
Don’t count on it, though. Most of Texas has emerged from its driest year on record, but the turn in weather likely will dampen legislative interest in the state’s water supply. Water planners, policy experts and scientists said Monday at the Texas Water Summit that they do not expect lawmakers to address increasing water demands [...]
Assessing the risk of wildfires
While one hopes that it won’t be a problem this year, the Harris County Fire Marshall has come up with a plan to protect vulnerable areas from wildfires. Four months ago, Harris County became the most populated county in the state to finalize a Community Wildfire Protection Plan. It identified areas facing the greatest wildfire [...]
Re-Plant Houston
Memorial Park is about to get some needed attention. As last year’s drought killed thousands of trees in Memorial Park, caretakers realized it was time to speed the pace of a long-planned reforestation. On Friday, Mayor Annise Parker announced that removal of invasive species and dead trees from the 1,500-acre park’s forested areas is scheduled [...]
The bees are back
And that’s a very good thing. The bees were hungry. Months of sweltering heat with little rain blanched the landscape. Flowers withered, if they bloomed at all. The drought, a death rattle to so many farmers and ranchers in Texas, also deprived bees food to forage from, and honey production dropped. Lacking a well-balanced diet [...]
There’s still a drought out there
Despite the rain, the state of Texas is still mostly in drought conditions, and the threat will remain for the next several years. Most of Central and East Texas beat long odds with heavy rains this winter, but experts warned state lawmakers Thursday that the drought is far from over. State climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said [...]
Houston may finally be drought-free
This was from a week ago. The rain brings the city’s official precipitation total for the year to 15.78 inches, twice the normal level, and a tally Houston didn’t reach in 2011 until early November. On Sunday, for the second time already this year, the city set a daily rainfall record. The day’s total of [...]
Less drought, more mosquitos
Tough choice, isn’t it? This story is about the prospects in Central Texas for rain and the buzzing vermin we all hate, but it could just as easily be written for Houston or any other part of the state. This bit was something I didn’t know, or at least had never thought about: Even if [...]
Dry, not drought
Yippie! It’s official: According to the latest iteration of the U.S. Drought Monitor just released, the drought is over for most of eastern Harris County. Here’s the picture: Compare that to where we were at the beginning of the year and be amazed. But don’t get too cocky. Look at the chart accompanying the current [...]
More than five million trees lost in the cities
More depressing numbers from the drought. It was a sight more common than usual this past summer: a tree too thirsty to live became another casualty to the drought. City workers would either remove the tree, or, if they were too late, it would fall, possibly on power lines, cars or a house. On Wednesday, [...]
Keep that rain coming
The recent rain has been great for mitigating the drought, but we still have a long way to go. During the last week an arc of Texas beset by a historic drought for a year – stretching from San Antonio to Austin to Bryan to Houston – received between 2 and 6 inches of rain, [...]