The City will be helping replenish the urban forest with a series of tree seedling plantings this winter, a program called Ready, Set, Plant. Although a few brief showers have given some reprieve, the drought of 2011 continues to cause severe impacts to the Central Texas landscape. Wildfires have ravaged landscapes and lives, aquifers have been drained, and crops have withered. Austin’s urban forest has also fallen victim; many trees have died of thirst and the rest are severely stressed. The Urban Forestry Program is committed to replenishing the urban forest to sustain the environmental benefits that trees provide, such as natural water filtration, oxygen, pollutant removal, and erosion control.