{"id":124121,"date":"2025-09-06T11:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T11:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/124121\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T11:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T11:29:09","slug":"how-are-nova-scotias-trees-faring-in-a-historic-drought-heres-what-the-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/124121\/","title":{"rendered":"How are Nova Scotia’s trees faring in a historic drought? Here’s what the experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nova Scotia’s parched summer is at the root of worsening conditions for the province’s trees, experts say.<\/p>\n

That’s a cause for concern with little or no rain in the forecast.<\/p>\n

“Newly planted or newly naturally regenerated trees experience\u00a0drought quite seriously because they’re small, they’re trying to make their way,” said\u00a0Peter Duinker, professor emeritus at Dalhousie University’s school for resource and environmental studies.<\/p>\n

The latest update from the Canadian Drought Monitor<\/a>,\u00a0managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, showed\u00a0the entire province was registering drought conditions by late July, and the province has generally seen little rainfall since then.<\/p>\n

Crispin Wood, manager of urban forestry for Halifax Regional Municipality, said he’s seeing some of the city’s more recently planted trees struggle due to the conditions while others have been losing their leaves early.<\/p>\n

Wood doesn’t believe the\u00a0drought will likely result in significant tree\u00a0mortality. But\u00a0he said\u00a0Nova Scotians\u00a0should\u00a0expect\u00a0a less colourful autumn as trees naturally conserve resources by reducing the manufacture\u00a0of some of the pigments that normally produce the season’s vibrant reds, yellows and oranges.<\/p>\n

‘Their roots are shrivelled up’<\/p>\n

Concerns about the steadfastness of trees have also cropped up as a result of the conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“A lot of these trees are experiencing drought and their roots are shrivelled up, so to speak, and they are not as stable as they could be,” said Scott Holman, urban forestry supervisor for the town of Truro.<\/p>\n

The Atlantic hurricane season<\/a>, which begins each year on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30, peaks in late August and September. Atlantic Canada is more at risk for strong storms in late summer and early fall, which coincides with that peak.<\/p>\n

Duinker said maintaining\u00a0the health of trees\u00a0in both urban and rural settings is important in making them less vulnerable to toppling over or uprooting\u00a0in a hurricane.<\/p>\n

In Truro, steps are being taken to ensure trees are being cared for during the drought.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Preparing green spaces for climate change\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holman said the town has deployed watering bags around its trees to slowly release water into the root balls.<\/p>\n

“It’s working pretty good, but then again this is a historical drought and we are losing some trees to it.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Planting trees that are more resistant to adverse conditions\u00a0is a sound management practice for the long term, said\u00a0Wood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Some species are more adapted to drought than others. Some of our native species like red maple or yellow or white birch are not as well adapted to the drought conditions,” said Wood.<\/p>\n

Mainstreet NSThe drought is having a big impact on the province’s trees<\/p>\n

You may have noticed brown leaves falling off your trees as the drought drags on.\u00a0Our colleague Meig Campbell asked Crispin Wood, manager of urban forestry for the Halifax Regional Municipality, what is happening and how this will impact the trees long term.<\/p>\n

“When we’re choosing trees and where we’re planting them, we just have to be a little more selective and cognizant that \u2026 we don’t live in our grandparents’ world anymore. Climate change is a real thing.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

More research is needed to understand which trees will\u00a0be affected by the long-term impacts of climate change and what happens to their roots during severe-weather events, Duinker said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Expert explains why Nova Scotia’s trees are stressed<\/p>\n

Halifax Tree Project founder Peter Duinker says some trees could be more vulnerable to storms and pests because of hot and dry weather this summer. He spoke to CBC’s Amy Smith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nova Scotia’s parched summer is at the root of worsening conditions for the province’s trees, experts say. That’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-124121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}