Listen To This Story
As drought conditions cover most of the state, the Nebraska Forest Service’s latest Forest Health Report flagged potential stress and disease in trees.
NFS Forest Health Specialist Jennifer Morris put together the report.
“These large bouts of drought that extend for a long time really do cause some issues with trees across Nebraska,” she said.
Trees without enough water can’t properly photosynthesize, Morris said, halting development of the chemical processes trees need to fight off disease. After the last severe drought in 2022, Morris said many trees were affected by canker diseases.
“It's just been quite devastating on some of our oaks and hackberries and things like that,” Morris said.
Trees compromised by drought are also left vulnerable to pests.
“We don't have a lot of that protection in place that the tree can have as it's healthier,” Morris said. “We see a lot of boring insects.”
According to the May 12 Drought Monitor update, most of central and western Nebraska are in extreme drought conditions. A significant part of the lower Panhandle and a section of south-central Nebraska are both in exceptional drought – the worst category.
Morris said how trees are doing overall depends on the species and whether or not they are in an area highly affected by drought. The NFS recommends watering trees to keep them healthy and drought resistant.
“We typically recommend at least an inch per week if possible, and we want it to be a very slow, deep, infrequent watering,” she said. “That one or two inches a week should be a fantastic addition to your trees.”
Morris also recommends mulching to benefit moisture retention in trees.
While it’s easy for homeowners to water a few trees, watering whole forests is less realistic. Though Morris hopes Mother Nature will spare a large percentage of those trees, drought can have significant effects on the overall health of a forest.
“Long term, you know, you do get root die back and canopy die back and the tree doesn't photosynthesize well,” she said. “It's going to depend on insect and disease pressure in the area that you're in, and hopefully the trees can make it through those types of conditions.”
Tree mortality has been a bleak reality for state park foresters in recent years. For example, she said, Ponca State Park has lost much of its oak canopy due to drought.
“It can affect anywhere from someone who has an acreage to someone who lives in town with one tree – not just the monetary value, but the shade that it adds to your home, the aesthetic appeal, and just the overall general health and wellness of our public.”
NFS Public Information Officer Benjamin Bohall said drought also compounds the risk of wildfires.
“This drought is not going anywhere. We would need prolonged, perpetual moisture at this point to get out of the woods, but it's probably not happening,” Bohall said. “What's been happening in the past four years with these early spring fires is probably the norm, and probably will be moving forward.”
The fire fuel problem
There isn’t much to do about drought, Bohall said, but people can take individual steps to prevent wildfires. Prescribed burns can help mitigate damage from wildfires, but Bohall said caution is key.
“I would ask folks to pay attention to the National Weather Service and what's happening,” Bohall said. “If there's a red flag warning, reconsider burning that day. We all have a part to play in all this.”
Ensuring prescribed burns or other fires are completely out is important, Bohall said. Previous burns can relight through “holdover heat.”
“Deep within those pile burns, the embers will get so hot that once you have these unseasonably warm days with high winds, actually reignite these fires,” he said. “Oftentimes it's when a landowner is not around and it's unmonitored, and then it creates a wildfire.”
Filling flat tires or securing dragging metal on vehicles, removing natural fire fuel – such as leaves, pine needles and fallen branches – from the ground and halting heavy equipment use on hot days can help prevent sparks from igniting wildfires.
Bohall said the NFS is also experimenting with new ways to manage Eastern redcedar trees.
The tree can have benefits, said Bohall.
“It's drought resistant, which was incredibly beneficial when trying to establish wind breaks and shelter belts, particularly out in western parts of Nebraska where it can be hard to grow anything. It provides wildlife habitat, and it also assists conservation efforts in general.”
But the “widespread encroachment” has created a fire fuel problem in many fire-prone areas of western Nebraska. Bohall said replacement or removal may be beneficial for some landowners.
“We've been conducting preliminary tests to see about other species that might be able to take its place that are far less aggressive, but also drought resistant,” Bohall said. “Species like Douglas fir – they've had a lot of success with that out in Colorado.”
Removing these trees can be an expensive endeavor, but one area of Nebraska has received some help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last September, Brown and Rock counties’ emergency management team received nearly $25 million in federal grants to remove and reduce fire fuel.
Jessica Pozehl is the Brown Rock Emergency Management Agency deputy and manages the grants. She said their first priority is removing those Eastern redcedar trees.
“We're not new to fires up here, for sure,” Pozehl said. “It does take a lot of time and energy and resources to control them, and once they kind of get out of hand, there's really no way of getting it under control unless we do big projects like this.”
Government shutdowns have slowed progress, but the agency has consulted with many landowners who plan to remove trees. Pozehl said the choice to remove trees is the landowner’s to make, but the removal itself will come at no cost to them.
“The message that we've received back from landowners has been very positive,” Pozehl said. “We actually haven't had to reach out to too many, except for those that don't live here and maybe haven't heard about it, but those that do live in these two counties have been calling us themselves and reaching out.”
Pozehl said her agency has encouraged landowners in the area to trim their trees away from their homes, remove pine needles or leaves on the ground, water their yards and clear gutters.
“There are things that they can do to help make their homes defensible,” Pozehl said. “That way, when we go in as fire departments, should there be a fire, we have an area to work. We have a better chance of saving their home.”
The grants also cover about 10 positions for new foresters and a fuel management team near Long Pine staffed through the NFS. Pozehl said this work wouldn’t be possible without this significant investment from the federal government.
“It kind of gives everybody a chance to work together, to come together for the good of the county, because ultimately, it's not just one person's property that we're trying to protect,” Pozehl said.
As wildfires become a greater, more frequent challenge in Nebraska, Bohall said volunteer firefighter training and public education must ramp up.
“I think the better informed we are, the more likely we are to hopefully get out of or find a strategy that will fit with this situation,” Bohall said.