Sprawling stands of pine trees used to help shield this part of the Gulf Coast from the wind. Now acres and acres of them are dead — or certainly appear to be — and locals are looking nervously over their shoulders. The fear is that another strong hurricane will turn the dead trees into missiles. And even now, amid drought, they pose a fire hazard.
As with many problems blamed on Hurricane Katrina, the pine trees are at the center of a debate: Is the federal government responsible for removing these potential hazards? And if not, can the local government find the money to pay for it?
“There are consequences if they don’t do something,” says Gwen Smith, director of the Hancock County extension of Mississippi State University. “It could be another disaster on top of the disaster we’re already had.”
This is one of those cases where the devil really is in the details.
Initially, the Army Corps of Engineers, charged with debris removal by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would not remove standing trees, dead or not, unless they were leaning at least 30 degrees.
At first, it was not absolutely certain that the trees were dead. The salt water which surged 12 miles inland during Katrina left everything brown right after Katrina. Months later, the live oaks and many other plants sprouted leaves. Now eleven months after Katrina, some in FEMA still argue that it is too soon to tell with the pine trees, which remain brown.
“A lot of these trees are, in fact, going to come back,” says Eugene Brezany, public information officer for FEMA, which directs the Army Corps of Engineers in the debris cleanup.
David Yarborough doubts it very much. A member of the County Board of Supervisors with large stands of pine trees in his district, he has made it his mission to get the Corps on the task. And time is growing short: The Corps is scheduled to end its cleanup in the area on Aug. 28.
In July, Yarborough and Smith arranged for a group of arborists from around the country to assess the pines in Hancock County. Their findings supported his argument: An estimated 80 percent of the trees (mostly pines) in the inundated area are dead or dying, though not all from the salt water, they said.
“A lot died from salt water. Then we had a severe drought, so the water couldn’t flush out the salt,” says Smith. Other weakened trees then became vulnerable to infestation. “We are seeing a very aggressive infestation of Southern Pine Beetles and Ips (a type of bark beetle),” she says.
As the arborists were assessing the trees, FEMA started bending its rules on the trees anyway, after residents complained that the Corps was rejecting the trees they put on the right of way in the course of cleaning up their lots.
In mid-July, FEMA issued new “guidance” on trees that had been killed by salt water. The directive said the federal government will take out or reimburse 90 percent of the cost of removing the trees if they are located on public property or pose a threat to public safety, as long as the trees are placed on a public right of way. Presumably FEMA's new policy includes removal of pines that were killed by beetles after the storm, though this has not been put to the test yet.
What FEMA will not fund is removal of trees from private property, even if they pose a risk to the private property owners or the structures on the property.
And, despite those risks, many individuals will choose not remove the trees themselves, Smith believes, because of the cost.
“Before the storm you could get an average tree taken down for $200. Now people are charging $1,500 for an average pine tree,” Smith says. “Imagine if you have 10 trees in your backyard. It’s an economic issue for a lot of people.”
FEMA’s Brezany is quick to offer perspective on the tree problem, in defense of his much-maligned government agency.
“This just shows that we have come a long, long way … the fact that we are discussing whether a tree is alive or not, as opposed to whether a casino is sitting on someone’s house,” he says. He also notes that FEMA has paid for about 98 percent of the debris removal in Mississippi.
To Yarborough, though, the tree problem remains considerable, literally towering over the FEMA trailers where his constituents live while they rebuild. And he's pressing for more help.
“We have a long way to go,” he says. “The battle has just begun.”
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Was Al Gore in town working for FEMA? Take the trees out have them milled and donate the lumber to the rebuild and everyone gets a charity write-off.
If you can't do that cut it down and burn-it, unlock people.
P.S. If these trees get loose and start floatong around at 5 mph would you want to be in the way let alone at 50 mph.
D. White (Sent Jul 27, 2006 3:21:32 PM)
For crying out loud! Use the wood to rebuild! Send them to a lumber mill and start building! I certainly agree with Doyle, JAmes, Al, and Angela. Our country used to be ask not what your country can do for you... I think it's finally come full circle and the country is asking what can you do for yourself ?
D Scott, Alexandria, VA (Sent Jul 27, 2006 3:45:05 PM)
Assuming one could hop in the car and run to the store and FIND a $500 chainsaw. Do we really want everyone and their uncle cutting down 100+ foot tall trees with little to no training? Assuming that someone was there to tell them HOW to cut a 3 foot wide tree down using a 2 foot long chainsaw, I still wouldn't want to see how many people are hurt by the suggestion.
Bootstraps or no, they are very large trees. If it were standing in the middle of a field that would be one thing, but a great many of these trees stand near or next to structures, power lines, communications equipment and the like.
You make it sound like everyone is a complainer and won't take responsiblity. I suggest you go down and help out for a while and you'll see the resilience that most everyone left down there really has.
Clay, Memphis, TN (Sent Jul 27, 2006 3:45:37 PM)
Why all the belly aching still? Let's talk about how beautiful the barrier islands are now---Horn and Ship Islands have never looked better. Git to work---cut down them pine trees---nothing but a headache anyway---GIT ER DONE!!! Stay positive and stop expecting everyone to pick up your tab. I got out---you can too.
Mark Randall, Atlanta, GA (formerly Biloxi, MS until Katrina came) (Sent Jul 27, 2006 4:01:34 PM)
There should be local loggers that would cut the trees down,they can, you know cut them in 16' to 20' lengths. Haul them to the local pulpwood mill, and even give the owner a percentage.
Joe Hatton, Winnsboro La. (Sent Jul 27, 2006 5:43:40 PM)
It is strange that this is even an issue since pine pulp farming is a huge and profitable industry in Mississippi. People farm out their land to companies for the sole purpose of selling the pulp. It seems that this should be an opportunity instead of a crisis.
I thought that I read that FEMA had been debunked a couple of weeks ago because the review panel decided it to be useless, and that the military is taking over emergencies. Wha happend?
Leigh, Stl MO, Daughter of Hancock Co. Residents (Sent Jul 27, 2006 5:46:09 PM)
Boy, it sure is easy to throw around terms like "bootstraps" and "candy-ass" while sitting in your undamaged, comfortable home, isn't it? Many folks would love to have $500 to spend on a chainsaw, but when insurance barely pays HALF of what is needed to make you whole, food and shelter become greater priorities. It'd be interesting to see how some folks' tune would change when the next disaster hits, say, Springfield, IL!
Andy, Santa Fe, NM (Sent Jul 27, 2006 6:18:10 PM)
This seems to me to be another case of, if its being given out I want some too !!!. Whos idea was it to plant those trees anyways ? Maybe we could start a goverment task force to "root" out all those people who are "responsible" & make THEM pay !!!
David Wixom, MI (Sent Jul 27, 2006 6:27:34 PM)
there are 500k acres with dead ( matchstick pines )
in northern arizona thanks to the rodeo/chediski
fire of 2002. the local people volunteered the
manpower, equip etc. to take it down for salvage
&to protect rest of forest & neighborhoods. we were
sued by the envirowackos in new mexico. to this day
the burn still stands for a fifty mile stretch from
payson to showlow. the trees now are worthless for
salvage. i understand, after 18 months the trees get
a fungus, and not worth pursuing in any economic interest. thank you, environmentalists.
lia simonsen (Sent Jul 27, 2006 6:36:22 PM)
I know this is the South but not all of us are handy with a chain saw. I know my husband and I are clueless.
Teresa Martin, LaGrange, Ga. (Sent Jul 27, 2006 7:12:41 PM)
Maybe they should look at how San Bernardino County, CA. is handeling the tree situation that the bark beetle and drought have caused.
Bandit, Running Springs, CA (Sent Jul 27, 2006 7:13:23 PM)
If the trees are on private land then the OWNER of the land IS responsable. Simple!!! Can these people do nothing for themselfs??? If they are on public lands then the local government is responsable. Where is this a federal problem...? You really cant fix stupid.
TG (Sent Jul 27, 2006 7:25:04 PM)
FEMA and government thinking can screw up a wet dream. This situation is an opportunity not a liability! There must be millions of board feet of lumber here just ripe for the milling unless they wait too long. Then they will really have a problem when they start rotting and dropping on people and property. Besides, It would serve to curtail the beetle population if they were milled rather than left on the stump like the thousands of beetle buffets they are right now. Get the loggers in and set up the portable mills. It's free lumber for the rebuilding and jobs for the unemployed. Hell, I'd come down there just for the thousands of cords of firewood these trees represent. What's the address?
Glenn A., SF.,CA. (Sent Jul 27, 2006 8:21:02 PM)
To James Holland above,
Way to go! Great idea! There is at the very least a really nice firewood business. What? People in the southeast don't have fireplaces? I refuse to believe that folks who live in that part of this great country are so helpless! Just do it! Don't consult, don't ask, just do it and apologize to the government hacks, environmentalist wackos, and the host of other idiots later!!!
Daniel Doss, Northridge, CA (Sent Jul 27, 2006 8:24:13 PM)
you can't sell dead wood.....the saw mill man knows what he's looking at...and cork is made of oak....if ya'll find a mill that will buy BAD pines let me know we got some the bore beetles got to
andy,booneville ms. (Sent Jul 27, 2006 8:28:29 PM)
Does it now cost $1500 to remove a tree that used to cost $200 because these post-Katrina thieves see the chance to screw the government or are these the usual neighborhood thieves who don't care who steal from anybody given the opportunity?
Ken McLean (Sent Jul 27, 2006 9:12:31 PM)
We in Wellington, Florida have been hard hit by the southern pine bettle. Many of us are loosing 50 or more tree on our lots. Now our community that is designate as a tree city is devistated. Those who are unlucky to have only pine trees find their lots nude and the city is requireing replanting for those lost. We are hit by cost of removal and cost of replanting.
Ted Welsh, Wellington, fl 33414 (Sent Jul 27, 2006 9:56:44 PM)
when are we going to wisen up and stop expecting anything from FEMA.
tommy , slidell , la (Sent Jul 27, 2006 10:23:29 PM)
We owners of private property ARE trying to take responsibility for the dead pine trees on our land. The fact is, to have a tree removed pre-Katrina cost ~$200. Post-Katrina, it is not uncommon to get a quote of ~$1,500 (per tree), and that does not include removing the stump. Trying to rebuild our homes (with no money, thanks to insurance companies)is our #1 priority. Unfortunately, we don't have the financial means to pay 7.5 times more for a tree. We will have to delay the removal until we can afford it; period.
Ann, Waveland, MS (Sent Jul 27, 2006 10:38:04 PM)
i don't know where gwen smith got their information from but i just had 15 trees removed from my property and it didn't cost me 1500 a tree. the total cost was 2500 and that included grinding the stumps
Ken, Long Beach, MS (Sent Jul 27, 2006 11:43:06 PM)
Ann in Waveland. find another tree cutter. there are some out there that don't charge that much.
john gulfport (Sent Jul 27, 2006 11:46:12 PM)
Why don't people cut their own trees down? Alternatively, someone could buy his/her own chainsaw, cut their own trees down for firewood or a new house AND start helping their neighbors by charging pre-Katrina prices of $200-300 for a tree, make some money and get more logs for their fireplace or new house! Kill two birds with one stone!
Marianne, havre, Montana (Sent Jul 28, 2006 12:07:02 AM)
Even if the government wanted to come on my land to cut down my trees I would not let them. My land is Private Land, that means no one can go one without my permission, including the government! “That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.”
PJ, Not USA (Sent Jul 28, 2006 12:55:10 AM)
This is hilarious. In a town 10 miles from me in Washington a guy cleaned up 4 trees that fell after a windstorm and the idiots at the Kirkland City Hall FINED HIM!
He even went as far as to ask them what they needed him to do in advance - but some braindead idiot at the Kirkland Planning Dept made a mistake and said the Cottonwood trees that fell were a weed which they are and this guy cut them up and Kirkland got rich off him.
The funny thing about this? the guy is a philanthropist that assisted in post-Katrina medical care to the tune of $30,000.
Are ALL gov't employees brain dead?
Michael Crissman (Sent Jul 28, 2006 1:46:28 AM)
Axes are cheap and readily available at just about any hardware store.
Doug Ferland (Sent Jul 28, 2006 3:40:32 AM)
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