As California’s historic drought continues into its fourth year, the state’s forests are being hit hard by years of below-average precipitation. According to a new study conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, at least 12.5 million trees in California’s national forests have died during the current drought — adding more brittle, dry vegetation to areas already threatened by potentially explosive wildfires.
“The situation is incendiary,” William Patzert, a climatologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the Los Angeles Times. “The national forest is stressed out.”
The count comes from an aerial survey conducted by the Forest Service last month. Using a digital aerial sketch-mapping system, researchers looked at tree health in areas throughout various national forests and parks throughout the state. They found 999,000 acres of dead trees, a figure that they expect will grow as the drought continues into the summer months. The last time that California saw such a massive die-off of trees was during the drought conditions of the mid-to-late 1970s. Though no aerial surveys were conducted during that time, ground reports estimated that 14 million trees died between 1975 and 1979.
— source thinkprogress.org