Park board twigs on new tree-planting strategy after last summer’s drought

After last summer’s historic drought parched the Vancouver area, the park board is adjusting plans to account for more warm, dry summers over the next century or two. The 2015 drought’s exact toll won’t be known until the spring, but the dry summer could cost the City of Vancouver as many as 250 dead trees, which is more than die in a normal year, said Howard Normann, manager of urban forestry for the park board. “We’re going to lose more than we would normally lose,” Normann said.