JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Officials with the Mississippi Forestry Commission (MFC) said a preliminary report shows the severity of the observed pine mortality in the state due to the 2023 drought.

The following information was provided by the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station:

• Completed using 150 random points on polys sized 0.22 acres and greater, error 0.04%
• Accuracy adjusted total pine mortality acres – 78,988.3
• At 159 trees per acre (3.5 pine trees per 10m grid cell) – over 12,500,000 dead trees

The study focused on a total of 13,010,098 acres. The total acreage of pine included in the study was 2,500,000 acres.