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PEP
Gusting winds fling dirt from barren cotton fields onto Farm to Market Road 303, near a small community called Pep. Parts of West Texas saw next to no rainfall in 2011.
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SAN ANGELO
“If you’re proud of your country, you try to take care of it,” says Bill Tullos. Last year, rather than watch his animals graze drought-stricken pastures to bare dirt, he sold most of them to protect the land.
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TEXAS HILL COUNTRY
In better days the San Saba River between Llano and Brady is a 50-foot-wide stream filled with largemouth and Guadalupe bass. Last year it dried up completely. These trees aren’t autumnal; they’re dying.
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VERIBEST
In this very small town, the Friday night game at Veribest High is a major event. “Football’s huge,” says Falcons head coach Grant Richmond (at far right). Despite the drought and record-breaking heat, the school managed to water its field enough to keep most of the grass green. Practices were brutal, though, Richmond says. “I tried not to look at a thermometer.”
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MASON
As the drought dried up grazing lands, ranchers converged on the Mason Feed Store. “They bought a lot of hay and feed to save at least their younger cows,” says Kenneth Durst, who’s worked here for 48 years. Later, after ranchers reduced their herds, sales dropped off. But demand for wildlife feed remained steady, as landowners and hunters tried to sustain deer, quail, and turkeys.
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SAN ANGELO
Well drillers Clark Abel (top) and his son, Justin, install the head of a windmill that will pump water from a new and deeper well. Drought is good for their business—but in the long run could drive people away from West Texas.
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