By Valarie SchwartzÂ
The drought has started making me droop.
By the time you read this, maybe we will have had rain. Rain might save some withering plants, push the dirt around on our cars and settle the dust on the roads, but it comes too late for many things, and will be no more than the proverbial drop in the bucket for our reservoirs.
There’s more to the drought than our gardens, trees and water supply. The critters need water as well, and if the ones you’ve observed have been as creative as the ones in my neighborhood, then you too may be wondering how to cope.
There’ve been some beautiful green tomatoes on the vines this summer, but before ripening, they disappear, only to be found lying in the yard covered in little claw marks with a large hole chewed-out.
Squirrels have even been spied in the act, snatching a tomato while running through the garden. It’s perplexing. There are tons of small tomatoes — cherry, sunburst, grape — that could be mistaken for acorns, but there’s no evidence that the squirrels take any interest in them whatsoever; it’s the big, slicing tomatoes they so greedily mutilate.
“Like us, squirrels are picky eaters,†said Bob Jankowski, staff biologist at Critter Control on the Durham/Orange border. “We don’t like everything either.†But the drought is challenging their discriminating tastes.
Besides the white oak acorn production being killed by our Easter frost, Jankowski said that because of the drought, other oaks are dropping their acorns early and the squirrels will not have the food supply required to sustain them, reducing births and thus their population next spring. Those that do find acorns are having trouble storing them.
“Squirrels like to bury their food supply, but the ground’s so hard they can’t dig in,†Jankowski said. “All wildlife is struggling with the drought.â€
Some are struggling to get into our homes, working (eating?) their way into people’s attics, where they hope to find sustenance. “They’re just being squirrels,†Jankowski said. “We need rain.â€
Of course, the farmers are having a terrible time. Ponds and wells are drying up as they haul water for their livestock, and they’re using their winter hay reserves.
“It is very critical,†said Karen McAdams, agricultural agent for the N.C. Cooperative Extension. “We’ve got farmers selling beef cattle because they don’t have enough feed.†They’re being sold for less than they’re worth. “There’s not much hay to be had in North Carolina. Rain would provide some grazing.â€
Rain now might even save some trees, but for others it’s too late.
“People think these 50- to 75-year-old trees can fend for themselves,†said Mark Daniely, horticultural agent for N.C. Cooperative Extension. “They pretty much can, but the wilting, scorched leaves make them more vulnerable to attack by insects and diseases.†They need to make food for next year through reserves in their leaves, but many don’t have what it takes. Some have already died, but others may starve to death and not leaf out next spring, Daniely said. “A number are barely holding on that won’t make it to spring.â€
Remember this year: 2007 has been the hottest and driest that many in this region have ever seen. Let’s hope it’s a record that holds.