The Drought Continues

September brought some relief from the all time record hundred plus degree days and we finally received some good rain - 6.15 inches. Every bit of which soaked into the ground. This was very good for the range grasses. It always amazes me how grasses can respond so quickly. All the pastures were brown and with no growth at all, yet in four days everything was green again. Wildflowers were blooming and grasses were shooting up and producing seed heads . . . . but this doesn’t end the drought. Remember that up until September we received only 11.24 inches for the year and during the hot summer months of May, June, July and August we only had 1.69 inches!

Since there was basically no runoff, our lakes, tanks and creeks are still, with a few exceptions dry. I hesitate to say the drought has a benefit, but it did give us the opportunity to remove silt from the lakes.

This tank was built in the late 1970’s. It has never been dry before and it was still boggy as the one loader got stuck in the mud. Photograph taken by J. David.

This pile of silt is 270 feet long, 50 feet wide and 6 foot high! Removal increased the tank capacity by 30 percent. After a prolonged drying out, we will spread it on the ranch. Photograph taken by J. David.

Madrone Lake, our most used recreation lake, on May 31, 2009. The creek that feeds it stopped flowing on July 28, 2008. Photograph taken by J. David.

Madrone Lake on October 8, 2009. The September rains soaked into the very dry earth. There has been no runoff to the lake nor spring activity to fill the lake. Photograph taken by J. David.

My observation of the effects of this drought on trees is that the most affected were Spanish Oaks. A Texas Forest Service representative estimated that we’ve lost 1,000! It surprised me that we lost at least five Bur Oaks. They have a tap root which goes deep into the ground. On the entire 5,500 acres I found only one Bur Oak. It’s probably 150 years old and in my 40 years here, it has never produced an acorn. We have planted all the other Bur Oaks on the ranch. Those five that died from the drought were seven to ten years old. Lacey Oak, some call it Blue Oak, and Live Oak have survived without loss. There has been some loss of Native Pecan, Walnut, BigTooth Maple, and Bald Cypress. It’s important to withhold judgement on this until next spring as some of these may come back to life.

This nice Spanish Oak shut down in late August. Aesthetically, it is a real loss as it was positioned along the road for all to see. Notice on the right a dead Bald Cypress. Photograph taken by J. David.

These are just two of many Bald Cypress we’ve introduced. Naturally there weren’t any on the ranch. I knew it was a risk to plant them at higher elevations, but since the creek had begun to run it was a good gamble. These are 40 foot tall and I don’t expect them to spring back to life as they got severely stressed in 2008 as well as in 2009. Photograph taken by J. David.

We call this the Catfish Tank. It has never gone completely dry. It has one spring and a 500 acre watershed to feed it. Photograph taken by J. David.

Obviously this tank has been dry long enough for cracks to develop and grass to grow. Photograph taken by J. David.

Because of the recent rains, one may want to declare this current drought over. This is not true. Conservation practices one may have developed due to the drought should become part of one’s life. Water is the single most important issue facing all of us.

Fall colors and beginning of winter

In November we had some cool days and nights, as well as some drizzle and fog. In the picture above there is rusty-red little bluestem grasses, a Texas oak turning red, and in the background, hills shrouded in fog.

It in now the second week of December, and we have had a couple of windy days so most of the leaves are down, and winter's colors dominate the wooded areas of the ranch. There are many areas in which Live oak is the dominant tree, and of course they are green all winter.  The grasses are still beautiful, but their colors are not as intense as they were in October and November.

Not remembering the exact reasons for the fall color changes in tree leaves, I pulled out my botany text book to refresh my memory. I found a web site that gave me even more information about fall colors: Why Leaves Change Color. The three main factors that influence the color changes are pigments, length of night and weather. The colors of a particular species of plant in fall is a combination of its heritage and weather conditions.


The pigments in leaves are chlorophyll, carotenoids, and anthocyanins.  Chlorophyll is the green pigment that is necessary for photosynthesis (making sugar from CO₂ and water using sunlight) and are found in chloroplasts of leaf cells.  Carotenoids produce yellow, orange and brown colors in fruits and vegetables as well as in leaves, and anthocyanins give color to fruits such as cranberries, red apples, blueberries, strawberrries, and plums. Chlorophyll and carotenoids are found in chloroplasts throughout the growing season.  When chlorophyll fades out as nights get long and temperatures go down, carotenoids get a chance to shine. Most anthocyanins, which are present in the watery liquid of plant cells are produced in fall in response to light and excess sugars that are trapped in leaves when the flow of fluids is cut off by the accumulation of  cells at the base of the stem holding leaves to twigs. They too can be seen when green chlorophyll is no longer produced. That layer of cells I mentioned at the base of the leaf stem eventually cuts off all flow of water and nutrients between leaves and the rest of the plant, and the leaf falls off. 

Enough of the science of color changes.  This year there were some beautiful yellow, orange and red Big-tooth maples.

 

Some plants turn an intense red, and have names that indicate its consistent  color, such as Flame-leaf sumac.


Many, but not all, of the Texas oaks turned orange or red.  Some just turned brown before dropping their leaves. This one was a beautiful scarlet.


Bald cypress turn a rusty brown before their needles fall down.  How long they hang onto their needles depends on weather and wind, and this year they fell down fast.  Needles float in the water, and sometimes one can see beautiful images when looking down into the water underneath a cypress.  In this picture we can see needles floating,  green water plants in clear water, and cypress branches outlines by intense blue sky.


I'll miss the beautiful colors of fall, but there is beauty in winter.  I love the shades of grey that are seen in the bare trees. Also, tree shapes are fascinating, and I've learned to recognize many different trees by their shape, and arrangement of limbs.

It is Sunday evening, and a cold front has just arrived. Rain is in the forecast, and we really need it.  Stay warm, but enjoy the outdoors.