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[XiaNaphryz]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Unprecedented-More-than-100-million-trees-10624642.php

California’s lingering drought has pushed the number of dead trees across the state past 100 million, an ecological event experts are calling dangerous and unprecedented in underlining the heightened risk of wildfires fueled by bone-dry forests.

In its latest aerial survey released Friday, the U.S. Forest Service said 62 million trees have died this year in California, bringing the six-year total to more than 102 million.

Scientists blame five-plus years of drought on the increasing tree deaths — tree “fatalities” increased by 100 percent in 2016 — but the rate of their demise has been much faster than expected, increasing the risk of ecologically damaging erosion and wildfires even bigger than the largest blazes the state’s seen this year.

“It’s not beyond the pale to suggest that this is a pretty unprecedented event in at least recent history,” said Adrian Das, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

There are about 21 million acres of trees spread across California’s 18 national forests, and the latest figures show 7.7 million of them — more than one-third — are dead.

The U.S. Forest Service has earmarked $43 million in California to help restore eroded sections of roads and trails throughout the state’s wooded areas, but officials say too much money is being spent on fighting wildfires that are becoming more and more common, as opposed to restoring the scarred forests.

The majority of the 102 million dead trees are in the southern and central Sierra Nevada region, the survey found, but the Forest Service also warned of tree deaths on the rise in northern regions, especially in Siskiyou, Modoc, Plumas and Lassen counties.

Rising temperatures throughout the state aren’t helping matters, and neither are the persevering infestations of bark beetles fond of gnawing through pine trees stressed by drought, leaving in their wake thousands of acres of brown, dead wood.

From his base in Sequoia National Park, Das said pines are dying faster than firs, but all the acres of trees he studies have been drying out and falling over faster than they should.

Tree mortality, and what drives it, “is still a poorly understood process,” Das said, adding that one of few immediate upsides to the stands of dying trees is that scientists can better study what specifically is causing their demise.

The old-growth forests he studies — resplendent with massive sequoia trees and sugar pines that often live for centuries — are changing more rapidly than he has ever seen, a matter of months in what usually unfolds over years or decades.

 

[sphagnum]

That's a lot of trees.

 

[Veitsev]

This is fine.

 

[RSP]

Horrible stuff needs to happen in your backyard to make you understand the importance and severity.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Oh damn that's rough. I feel for you all in California. Hope things improve over there.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Are they sure they are dead and not dying/dormant?

 

[ClosingADoor]

A third of all forests are now dead there? Damn... that does not sound like something that will be fixed soon.

 

[SpaceWolf]

Lovely. The Road here we come.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

The sooner humanity kills itself off the better the planet will be.

 

[op_ivy]

Are they sure they are dead and not dying/dormant?

You'd think they'd know the difference...

 

[Rayis]

This is a shame, California's forests are/were beautiful

 

[WickedCobra03]

I just can't imagine the state without its National Forests. They have been a huge part of my life and it's really depressing to hear the situation isn't getting any better.

With that, it feels like there is nothing I can readily do.

 

[Nickle]

F

 

[blu]

Victory tour.

 

[olympia]

I clicked the gate article but an ad obscured the page. Any mention of Sudden Oak Death? I know that has been a serious problem here in the past year and it's still uncertain if that disease is related to the drought or not.

 

[SaganIsGOAT]

Visit the redwoods while you can. There are few places as magical on this planet as that.

 

[Goro Majima]

Mudslides are going to be out of control once it does start raining again.

 

[Theonik]

The sooner humanity kills itself off the better the planet will be.

California is an odd case since the climate was always dry there. Humans attempted to terraform it.
Though what we are seeing now is a combination of human intervention and climate change.

 

[liquidspeed]

California is an odd case since the climate was always dry there. Humans attempted to terraform it. Though what we are seeing now is a combination of human intervention and climate change.

Yes, but the current drought is of unprecedented dryness, and climate change has significantly contributed to the severity

https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=138232&org=NSF

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL064593/full

http://www.pnas.org/content/112/13/3931.abstract

 

[rokkerkory]

We are finally getting rain in the bay area this weekend in Nov (((((((

 

[loaf of bread]

Eh. Trees had a good run. What are they good for anyway.

 

[BlackLagoon]

Just in time for Donald “there is no drought” Trump to come in and fix it.

 

[geardo]

The sooner humanity kills itself off the better the planet will be.

You're not wrong.

 

[GhaleonEB]

There are about 21 million acres of trees spread across California’s 18 national forests, and the latest figures show 7.7 million of them — more than one-third — are dead.

I had no idea 1) it was that bad, and 2) that the drought was continuing. For some reason I thought it had abated somewhat.

 

[BotoxAgent]

The sooner humanity kills itself off the better the planet will be.

Sad but true

 

[inner-G]

Washington is really rainy and depressing

 

[Theonik]

The notion that humanity is killing the planet is not very accurate. Humanity is the one you should be worrying about or at least our current civilisation. Nature will recover over time.

Yes, but the current drought is of unprecedented dryness, and climate change has significantly contributed to the severity

I am not disputing this. Simply stating that what people think of California's natural climate and its actual climate don't necessarily correlate.

 

[DeadlyParasite]

Would a decreased tree count and continued drought eventually lead way to turning California into some kind of massively desert environment like northern Africa? Or would that simply take too many years for us to notice?

 

[PeskyToaster]

The sooner humanity kills itself off the better the planet will be.

You're not wrong.

Sad but true

Is this for real or just edgy?

 

[geardo]

Is this for real or just edgy?

Just make your point dude.

 

[Gnome]

Is this for real or just edgy?

I don't think anyone is saying that we should die. That would be dumb, if humanity dies then that means much of life on Earth dies too. If we're not talking about life when we talk of saving the Earth, then wtf are we talking about? A big indifferent rock?

 

[Sulik2]

The sooner humanity kills itself off the better the planet will be.

Humanity has a large and resourceful population, unless it involves nuclear war or biological war, both of which could be very bad for all other life on the planet, humans will likely survive.

What is going to happen is global organized human civilization is going to collapse under ecological and sociological pressures in the next 80 to 150 years along with a mass die off of humans that are sustained by complex technologies. That will still be much better for the planet, but Earth will probably never be rid of humanity completely while the sun is still yellow.

 

[IsntChrisL]

It sucks. SoCal has been dry, dry, dry for years. Shit, we were still in the 90's over here until last week. I'm worried the dumbasses running this state are going to let the southern half go bone dry in order to keep the farming industry alive as long as possible.

 

[blu]

It sucks. SoCal has been dry, dry, dry for years. Shit, we were still in the 90's over here until last week. I'm worried the dumbasses running this state are going to let the southern half go bone dry in order to keep the farming industry alive as long as possible.

I think you might have larger dumbasses to worry about.

 

[IsntChrisL]

I think you might have larger dumbasses to worry about.

So because Trump is going to be the President I shouldn't care about the way my state is ran?

 

[PeskyToaster]

Just make your point dude.

I'm trying to figure out what you meant by that. Do you want everyone to die? Or just a lot of people?

 

[geardo]

I'm trying to figure out what you meant by that. Do you want everyone to die? Or just a lot of people?

No one, and you know that. Let's calm down please.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Its happenings an its been happening. These regions that are becoming more arrid are fucked for good.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

Is this due to climate change or the fact that Southern Caliornia has been turning into a dessert slowly?

 

[Empty]

rip trees

 

[Dan]

NPR had a piece recently about efforts to study how different kinds of trees seem to be coping better.

 

[Madness]

Would a decreased tree count and continued drought eventually lead way to turning California into some kind of massively desert environment like northern Africa? Or would that simply take too many years for us to notice?

It has already started. Californians had their heads in the sand. Massive estates and golf courses and car washes and ridiculous amounts of water used for crops just to maintain their laviash lifestyle etc.

 

[SpecX]

It has already started. Californians had their heads in the sand. Massive estates and golf courses and car washes and ridiculous amounts of water used for crops just to maintain their laviash lifestyle etc.

I'll give you the estates and golf courses, but car washes recycle their water and the crops go to the entire country, not just California. If you'd like, we can stop and see how the rest of the country likes the effects of our drought.

 

[PsihoPerihelion]

Thank god the president-elect believes in climate change. He'll do something about it!

 

[Skinpop]

I'll give you the estates and golf courses, but car washes recycle their water and the crops go to the entire country, not just California. If you'd like, we can stop and see how the rest of the country likes the effects of our drought.

doesn't matter where it goes if fresh water is decreasing though...

 

[SpecX]

doesn't matter where it goes if fresh water is decreasing though...

I agree, but it isn't just a state problem. The entire country is going to have to be on board and accept the change. If California suddenly stopped producing some of the things they made, there would be so much uproar especially with soon to be Prez Trump.

 

[Aztechnology]

It's fine guys they'll come back when it rains because it refills all the water.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Scary shit. PNW bout to get even more transplants and tourist dollars.

 

[Madness]

I'll give you the estates and golf courses, but car washes recycle their water and the crops go to the entire country, not just California. If you'd like, we can stop and see how the rest of the country likes the effects of our drought.

You are talking about now. California has been wasteful with their water for decades. So even if the drought is recent, wastefulness in California has been slow to adapt. Why do you guys get up in arms and threaten to cut off agricultural products lol. If you stop, you lose jobs, means of earning, living ability.

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/statistics/

Pretty sure that the rest of the country would understand if almonds and walnuts and grapes were no longer in domestic abundance. In fact, to water the state's almond farms, they use more water than the entire cities of LA and San Franciso in a year etc.

 

[JohnsonUT]

The sooner humanity kills itself off the better the planet will be.

We should probably leave behind artifacts to warn any future intelligent life to not make the mistakes we made.