California has lost over 36 million trees in the last year alone.

A recent federal study found that California lost more than 36 million trees in the last year alone. Large-scale extinction worries environmentalists and politicians.



JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Many California trees, its pines, oaks, and especially spruces, are dying. A recent survey of the state’s forests found that more than 36 million trees have died in the last couple of years. Nathan Rott of NPR reports on the reasons for this loss.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE: Geoffrey Moore has conducted aerial photography for the US Forest Service for decades, flying low over western forests to check on their health. This latest poll…

JEFFREY MOORE: I haven’t seen anything like this since 2016, in the midst of the last extremely dry spell we’ve had here in California.

ROTT: Red trees, yellow, dead and dying. Moore and his team found four times as many dead trees as they had a year earlier. Most of them were fir trees – think of the classic conifer tree.

MOORE: There are two main types of fir growing here in California.

ROTT: Red spruces, which usually grow at higher elevations and are drought tolerant – that’s not good, Moore says, they’re dying – but so are white spruces, which usually live at lower elevations and tend to grow very fast. About a third of the dead trees found by Moore and his team were white firs, and he says that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Generally, white firs are species that are destroyed by regular wildfires, leaving more nutrients and water for larger trees like pines. But now we humans regularly and aggressively put out forest fires. AND…

MOORE: Since we’ve removed the fire from these systems, these little trees, these little firs, have now become big trees. Big trees need a lot of water.

ROTT: Throw in the historic western megadrought…

MOORE: And something has to give.

ROTT: John Wang is an assistant professor at the University of Utah who published a study last summer showing that many of California’s endangered forests will not return.

JOHN WANG: And the way climate change is affecting these forests is making the atmosphere hotter in the first place. And the warmer it gets, the more water each of these trees needs.

ROTT: Thirsty trees are more susceptible to diseases, pests, and wildfires, and it’s harder for the forest to recover in these new conditions.

WANG: It’s always a bit of a shock because it’s really, you know, sad to see these forests that have been such an iconic part of the California landscape really start to fall into disrepair.

ROTT: But he says it shouldn’t come as a surprise. The drought has been well documented. Climate warnings are all over the place, and unfortunately the extinction is likely to continue.

Nathan Rott, NPR News.

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