Insult to Injury

Researchers have determined that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged or killed some 320 million large trees across 5 million acres of Gulf Coast forests. Those trees, when healthy, would normally act as a carbon sink, storing carbon in their tissue and in the soil, but dead and decomposing vegetation releases carbon to the atmosphere. Scientists estimate that total carbon losses from the storms are equal to 60 to 100 percent of the total carbon stored by all US forests in a year.