Oregon’s catastrophic wildfire burn rate was cut by roughly 77% during the state’s worst fire season in history by strategically watering large trees with trickle buckets.
Six highly improbable summer rains were brought to drought-stricken Pacific Northwest forests during peak fire season 2024 by slowly hydrating strategic tree groves with approximately 32,750 gallons of water. Oregon’s daily burn rate dropped from approximately 36,585 acres to 6,162 acres after the first correlatable rainfall arrived on August 17, interrupting what forecasters predicted would be months of intensifying drought and above-normal fire danger.
Rainmaking with trees as a drought solution emerged from my 2020 discovery of research on biogenic moisture circulation. Notable scientists, including Makarieva, Ellison, Wright, Jasechko, and their colleagues, have documented how forests generate their own precipitation through transpiration, the release of water vapor from leaf stomata. This process accounts for 80% to 90% of terrestrial evapotranspiration over landscapes, moving moisture across continents independently of ocean sources.
Forest moisture circulation science teaches us, essentially, that without forests, continental interiors turn to deserts; that forests are the primary resource for “good” rain over our landscapes. Furthermore, gentle rehydrations of strong trees can generate clouds, moist winds, and rains, which carry downwind over large landscapes.
I reverse-engineered these findings into a practical protocol. By slowly watering large trees at their trunks, I reactivate “FMC”, Forest Moisture Circulation, the networked capacity of hydrated canopies to cool air, attract atmospheric moisture, and catalyze precipitation. The method proved immediately successful in summer 2020 when my first two attempts brought unforecast rain within 45 minutes each.
Historical context supports this approach. According to historian Del Winegar’s research, Texas experienced zero lightning fires before 1860 despite supporting “luxuriant” forests so thick with vegetation they were “too thick to be conquered.” Another surprise, Phoenix, Arizona, averaged six huge mesquite trees per city lot in 1938. Look at it today. These accounts suggest forests naturally maintain moisture regimes, preventing drought-driven wildfire when adequately hydrated and undisturbed.
Compounding dehydration makes landscapes increasingly fire-prone, while conventional responses such as tree removal and fire breaks eliminate the only biological infrastructure capable of circulating atmospheric moisture.
What I’m Doing Now. Central Texas, where I developed the drought solution, faces a severe crisis even as I write this. But I have been applying the same methods here as in southwest Oregon in 2024 for the last 40 days (nearly seven weeks). Our region has shifted from 16 inches behind on rainfall over the past 365 days to less than eight inches. During this time, I’ve carried out nearly 40 strategic watering sessions on old-growth Texas Live Oaks and “Cedar” trees. We appear to have beaten two heat waves and helped bring ongoing, long, gentle rains to the area, cutting our rainfall deficit in half. You can view that recent footage on our YouTube playlist, “Cooling Central Texas, Then Helping Bring Rain”.
Cutting Oregon’s Burn Rate, 2024. The Northwest Projects 2024, a six-week strategic watering project centered entirely in southwest Oregon, tested whether strategic rehydration could interrupt the fire season at the regional scale. I arrived in Oregon on August 9, when conditions appeared dire. The state had lost more than one million acres of forest and natural lands to wildfires since mid-July alone, by far their worst month on record, and “peak fire season” was due in mid-August. The forests in this part of the USA showed extreme dehydration with jagged, damaged canopies. The National Interagency Fire Center warned of above-normal fire danger from July through September. Locals confirmed summer rains virtually never occur, sometimes not until October.
I conducted 66 waterings of forest groves across eight coordinated sites over six weeks. I focused on the Eugene area, a strategic location where prevailing winds could distribute moisture-rich air across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California. My protocol involved placing food-grade five-gallon buckets with small trickle holes at tree trunks to allow slow absorption. After 85% to 95% of water had drained, I saturated the bark around each trunk and occasionally flung small amounts into lower canopies.
Results exceeded my expectations. Temperatures dropped below average within three days of initial watering and remained cool for 40 consecutive days during Earth’s hottest summer on record. Eugene experienced 20 days at 10 or more degrees below average, including one day 17°F below normal. The first rain arrived on August 17 with less than 10% probability for that time of year (the middle of peak fire season), bringing approximately 0.35 inches across at least 100,000 acres.
Additional rains followed on August 22 and 23, collectively delivering 0.54 inches across the region. Minor precipitation events occurred on August 24, 27, September 1, and 2, with final claimable rains on September 17 and 25. Total precipitation during the project period brought billions of gallons to forests that forecasters predicted would remain dry through an intensifying, catastrophic fire season.
Bringing Rain to Texas, February, 2026. The strategy also proved effective in less-capacitated systems. At Lotus Bend Sanctuary in Central Texas in February 2026, I tested the method on medium-maturity Live Oak and Ashe Juniper trees during winter, when most of the deciduous canopy was absent. I delivered 5,400 gallons across 10 watering sessions, February 3-13, achieving three rain events, including a perfect 13-hour soaking rain on February 14 that brought approximately 0.70 inches. The water-ROI (return on investment) was 44X at my test sites, with regional precipitation exceeding 17 billion gallons.
Large trees are watered at trunk level using the trickle-bucket method that achieved 44X water return on investment at Central Texas test site, where 5,400 gallons input generated 17+ billion gallons regional rainfall through reactivated forest moisture circulation, preventing wildfire conditions. Photo by Chris Searles.
FMC. The rainmaking and moisture-sharing mechanism operates through five mutually-reinforcing layers of Forest Moisture Circulation. At the micro level, hydrated leaf stomata release fine moisture. Locally, trees share moistened air from grove to grove. Regionally, moisture daisy-chains across connected forest patches. Continentally, forest infrastructure shapes the inland transport of airborne moisture from the coast. Globally, atmospheric rivers interact with forest-generated precipitation patterns.
Strategic Watering. Strategic location selection maximizes the circulation of continental moisture. I map forested areas to visualize circulation potential, then position watering efforts in hubs or conduits where prevailing winds distribute moisture-rich air across priority zones. The Eugene area’s position allowed moisture from Pacific systems to interact with rehydrated forest circulation, amplifying effects across multiple states.
Rainmaking with Trees. I acknowledge correlation does not prove causation, emphasizing the need for controlled studies and peer review. Deep rainfall deficits exceeding 50% over multiple years reduce forest capacity to respond to rehydration. Optimal conditions require mature trees with an abundant canopy in strategic locations relative to moisture flows. Academic validation would strengthen credibility and enable broader adoption.
Cost Efficiency. Economic analysis strongly favors the rainmaking drought solution. I spent approximately $2,000 on water and fuel for the Northwest Projects. The State of Oregon invested more than $750 million in firefighting that summer, using methods that are effective but destructive to the timber industry’s viability and long-term forest health. The cost differential suggests enormous scalability potential.
The method’s accessibility represents its greatest strength. Anyone with large trees, basic equipment, and water can participate. Homeowners can protect properties while contributing to regional moisture circulation. Land managers can rehydrate key groves. Communities can coordinate strategic efforts. I propose that two teams of 12 people each could restore forest moisture circulation across the continental United States within five years through coordinated strategic watering.
A proposed forest moisture restoration method requiring nothing more than large trees, basic equipment, and water could be scaled from individual homeowners to coordinated community teams, with the researcher suggesting that two teams of 12 people could rehydrate forest moisture circulation across the continental United States within five years. Graphic by Chris Searles.
Climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of drought globally. The 2024 Northwest Projects occurred during the first year that atmospheric moisture circulation broke worldwide, in my opinion. Traditional fire season approaches proved unreliable as extreme weather became year-round. These accelerating disruptions demand solutions matching the scale and urgency of the crisis.
The rainmaking drought solution addresses root causes rather than symptoms. Where conventional approaches remove vegetation to reduce fuel loads, this method rehydrates the biological infrastructure that naturally prevents fire through moisture circulation. Where firefighting consumes enormous resources battling blazes, strategic watering prevents ignition conditions from developing. Where climate models predict worsening drought, forest rehydration could restore self-sustaining precipitation cycles.
My work demonstrates that the hardware for reversing drought already exists in our forests. Trees evolved sophisticated moisture management capabilities over millions of years. They simply need water to activate those functions. By understanding and supporting natural forest moisture circulation rather than fighting against it, we can partner with ecosystems to restore climatic stability. Anyone can do this.
