The Woodlands Township is in the midst of ongoing efforts to replenish the area's forested tracts and repair damage from the 2011 drought. So far, the reforestation efforts have cost the township about $1.7 million.
The new phase of the tree-planting program began Jan. 24 at the Arbor Day celebration at Rob Fleming Park, where the township gave out 120,000 seedlings for residents to plant.
John Powers, assistant general manager of community services for the township, said forestry crews would plant seedlings that were not given away at the event. Powers said 1,000 trees of 5- and 30-gallon sizes, mostly larger native pines and oaks, will also be planted by Brickman, the company that performs landscaping work in The Woodlands, along with another 5,000 seedlings for smaller trees.
As of mid-February, the township had given out 120,000 seedlings, and the township staff planted trees in the community throughout February, targeting some of the hardest-hit areas.
"We try to plant in those areas where the residents have been impacted," Powers said. "We plant the 5-gallon [trees] where there might not have been too many [trees] in the first place."
Powers said crews are focusing on the Village of Creekside Park during the current planting phase. Although the drought hit The Woodlands uniformly throughout, the villages of Cochran's Crossing, Panther Creek and Grogan's Mill, which are considered old-growth forest areas, were addressed in the last phase of the reforestation efforts, he said.
"We've hit those areas pretty well—we're focusing now on areas like [the Village of] Sterling Ridge— these are older areas [that] didn't have older-growth trees to begin with," Powers said.
In Sterling Ridge, the township is supplementing original forested areas with a higher percentage of new seedlings than elsewhere in The Woodlands.
"What we would like to see happen is to have a constant forest," said Bruce Tough, chairman of the township board of directors.
Tough said a challenge facing the township is that there are many people moving into The Woodlands as well as some residents offering suggestions and recommendations who are not familiar with the history and aesthetics of the
community.
He said the township has removed many trees that were deemed a hazard, and there is an ongoing reforestation effort despite some in the community who have suggested the area should be more pristine and manicured.
"There is a push to have more visibility in the commercial areas, but that's not The Woodlands—we have trees," Tough said.
Powers said that since the drought in 2011, the township's annual budget for reforestation efforts has increased from $85,000 to $314,000. He said $85,000 to $100,000 is the normal amount the township spends each year to remove hazardous trees and replant new ones.
"We have about two more years left of this high-level effort," he said. "We expect it to taper off to normal conditions by 2017."
The multi-year reforestation plan takes into account that not all trees planted are going to survive. Powers said approximately 10 percent of seedlings planted in 2012 have survived, while 80 percent survived from 2013–14 efforts.
"There's always going to be higher mortality of the smaller seedlings," Powers said. "If we can get half of the smaller seedlings to survive, then we are happy. We are shooting for 95 percent [survival rate] of the bigger trees."
