JACKSON, Miss. ( WJTV ) – Last summer’s drought led to all of the dead pine trees this year.

Donna Yowell, the executive director of the Mississippi Urban Forestry Council, said the organization is well aware of the dead trees.

“We had a severe drought and because the trees were put in a position where they were vulnerable to disease, we had a lot of pine beetles move in, as well as other problems,” said Yowell.

All of these dead trees are more than just unsightly. We’re already seeing more power outages than normal with our severe storms because dead trees from last year’s drought are falling across power lines. Trees are falling into houses, which brings up another issue if you have dead trees in your yard over your house or a neighbor’s house.

“Because if you’ve got a dead tree hanging over your house, there’s some insurance issues,” said Yowell.

Municipal governments have their problems, too. Because all of the trees in towns and cities that are not in yards are owned by the city. So, that’s the reason for the all-inclusive open Forestry Conference coming up Wednesday, May 22 at the Ag Museum in Jackson. The conference will start at 9:00 a.m., and registration will begin at 8:30 a.m.

“We’re going to talk about the government program that’s available to help cities deal with the dead trees,” stated Yowell.

Private homeowners and landowners can pick up some tips, too. Because if you’ve priced it, getting a huge tree taken down and out of your yard is expensive.

“We’re going to talk about how the individual can look for federal funding to help them pay for removal of those trees,” Yowell said.

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