By Chris Duncan - Associated Press
The Texas Gulf Coast's recovery from Hurricane Ike — which submerged the marshes in seawater, scouring away beaches, ruining thousands of acres of vegetation and wiping out much of the wildlife — is being stymied by the state's worst drought in 50 years.
The drought has deprived the land of the cleansing rains needed to purge salty residue left from the tidal surge Ike dragged in when it slammed into the Texas coast on Sept. 13, 2008. The toxic soil and contaminated ponds have kept plants from regrowing and animals from nesting, driving off some species altogether.
"We're very far behind in our rainfall, and that's made a bad problem even worse," said Jim Sutherlin, manager of the 25,000-acre Murphree Wildlife Refuge near Port Arthur. "We've not had nearly the rains we need to reverse the damage to the landscape." [read rest of article]
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