Future of Flooded Trees - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Future of Flooded Trees

As homeowners continue work to rehabilitate homes and yards, one thing has become very clear-- the trees-- an integral part of the valley-- have suffered gravely.
Which has left many residents unsure of what to do.
Jordan Pederson found some of those answers out.

By this time of year, the trees in the valley would be in full bloom.
The once-bare branches would be plum-full with vibrant green leaves..
That's not the case this spring.. at least not for a vast portion of trees that were rooted in the flood's path.
(Brian Johnson, City Forester, Minot Parks Department) "The Evergreens are the ones that most people are going to notice because they are brown. Otherwise a lot of the mature Green Ash, Cottonwoods, Elms, varieties like that, that are river bottom trees are doing just fine."
Trees in the valley sat in flooded water anywhere from two weeks to just shy of a month.
(Brian Johnson, City Forester, Minot Parks Department) "Trees have the unique ability to adapt to certain situations including flooding."
That leaves many people with questions... such as
how can you tell if a tree has a chance of making it?
(Brian Johnson, City Forester, Minot Parks Department) "If the tree looks really vibrant, leaves are normal sized, the tree is going to be just fine."
But just because a tree still has green on it doesn't mean it has life in it.
(Brian Johnson, City Forester, Minot Parks Department) "The average person would probably think that this tree is going to survive. It is starting to drop its needles on this one. If you shake it they just basically fall right off the tree. This tree is not going to make it."
A new tree can be planted where an old one existed..
But does a tree have to be removed or replaced right away this summer?
Money can be tight with most people putting what they have back into houses.
(Brian Johnson, City Forester, Minot Parks Department) "What I have been telling a lot of homeowners, if they have a tree that is similar to this, that has got some greening in it and it looks kind of like it could make it do some aeration around the root system. Get some air back down in the ground. Water them. You are not going to save the tree, but you are going to prolong the life of the tree."
Watering the tree is a must to prolong it's life.
(Brian Johnson, City Forester, Minot Parks Department) "We had a real dry rest of the summer and extremely dry winter. Believe it or not, water is going to be a key issue when you are trying to keep your trees alive."
So what can we expect growth-wise in the next few years?
(Brian Johnson, City Forester, Minot Parks Department) "I've got a feeling what you are going to see in a lot of trees that were in the flood zones are real small amounts of growth over the next few years because the tree is concentrating a lot on redoing it's root system."
Johnson's positive outlook will be the kind of motivation residents of the valley need to move forward.
(Brian Johnson, City Forester, Minot Parks Department) "North Dakotans are tough people and they are just going to keep plugging away and it is going to be beautiful."
In the valley, Jordan Pederson, KX News.

Although the number of trees lost in residential areas is unknown, the number of trees lost throughout Minot's parks is close to 2,000.