The California Drought's Alarming Toll On Forests
9 years, 1 month ago

The California Drought's Alarming Toll On Forests

Huff Post  

Predictions like this foreshadow a series of cascading effects that reach far beyond dead and dying trees. More indirectly, the drought-killed trees will affect the water produced in the nation's forests and the 60 million people who depend on it, the Forest Service report states. Most ominously, the combination of dead trees, insect infestation and fire on forest ecosystems will likely release carbon – perhaps more, in some places, than forests store. This could culminate in a feedback loop that adds to global carbon accumulations, said Matt Jolly, a Forest Service researcher and fire ecologist whose study was published in Nature Communications. The response demands looking beyond the immediate emergency to the long-term impacts of climate change, said James Vose, a Forest Service research ecologist.

California Trees Forest Forest Service  alarming  west  trees  precipitation  service  droughts  forest  insect  scientists  toll  water  forests  california  increase

History of this topic

California’s federal lands are hemorrhaging carbon dioxide. Wildfires are largely to blame
2 months ago

California’s federal lands are hemorrhaging carbon dioxide. Wildfires are largely to blame

LA Times  

The ecosystems on the American Southwest’s federal lands are hemorrhaging carbon dioxide into the atmosphere faster than any other region in the U.S., according to a recent study from the U.S. Geological Survey. While federal land ecosystems in most states are sequestering carbon dioxide on average, California’s lost six times more than any other state during the 17-year period from …

Droughts across the West are getting worse - and scientists warn it’s not going to get any better
2 months, 2 weeks ago

Droughts across the West are getting worse - and scientists warn it’s not going to get any better

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Drought conditions - coupled with hurricane-force winds, low humidity and extremely dry vegetation - have helped make this month’s …

California risk shifts from drought to floods after record rain, snow
2 years ago

California risk shifts from drought to floods after record rain, snow

LA Times  

Though California may be ending its winter with quenched reservoirs and near record snowpack, meteorologists are warning that the state will face increased flooding risk in the coming months as Sierra Nevada snowmelt fills rivers and streams. “Is it gradual snowmelt — in which case the flood concerns would be mostly minor — or is it more rapid … in …

California downpours won't fix decades of drought: Scientists
2 years, 2 months ago

California downpours won't fix decades of drought: Scientists

The Hindu  

Near-record rainfall has battered California for weeks, sparking floods and landslides as the state struggles to cope with so much water. But scientists say even this much precipitation won't reverse the western US state's decades-long drought. Aquifers in deficit Beyond its reservoirs and snow reserves, the state faces a much deeper-seated problem with its depleted groundwater, says Nicholas Pinter, a …

EXPLAINER: How much will the rain help California’s drought?
2 years, 2 months ago

EXPLAINER: How much will the rain help California’s drought?

Associated Press  

California has experienced a devastating, multi-year drought that’s depleted reservoirs, forced officials to plead with residents to conserve water and constrained supplies to vital farmland. And the rain and snow won’t be enough to fix some of California’s long-term water problems that climate change is making worse. “What we’ve got so far puts us in good shape, probably for at …

This Christmas, It’s ‘Firmageddon’ as Climate Change Hits Oregon
2 years, 3 months ago

This Christmas, It’s ‘Firmageddon’ as Climate Change Hits Oregon

Wired  

This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. “It is stunning,” said Daniel DePinte, an aerial survey program manager with the Forest Service who led the agency’s Pacific Northwest region aerial survey, noting that this year saw the highest mortality rate for firs in this area in history. The data, first reported by …

As California droughts intensify, ecosystems and rural communities will bear the brunt
2 years, 4 months ago

As California droughts intensify, ecosystems and rural communities will bear the brunt

LA Times  

As California droughts get longer and more severe, groundwater over pumping will disproportionately affect ecosystems and rural communities. Drought, human-caused climate change, invasive species and a “legacy” of environmental issues are permanently altering California’s landscape and placing some communities and ecosystems at increasing risk, a panel of experts told water officials recently. Although droughts in California date back to prehistoric …

Opinion: To help fight the climate crisis, we should plant more trees
2 years, 4 months ago

Opinion: To help fight the climate crisis, we should plant more trees

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Jad Daley is president and CEO of American Forests and a leader of the U.S. chapter of 1t.org. Leaders across the forest-climate movement, including ourselves, have always made clear that the most important step we must take to fight climate change is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Chuck Fazio Christie Hemm Klok In recent months, despite the deadly …

Climate change is rapidly accelerating in California, state report says
2 years, 4 months ago

Climate change is rapidly accelerating in California, state report says

LA Times  

A firefighter goes through the burn zone of the Fairview fire near Hemet on Sept. 9, 2022. Ten of the 20 largest wildfires since 1950 burned in 2020 and 2021, including the record-breaking August Complex, which surpassed 1 million acres in 2020 to become the state’s first “gigafire.” “It is troubling how some of the changes are occurring a lot …

Nearly a third of southern Sierra forests killed by drought and wildfire in last decade
2 years, 4 months ago

Nearly a third of southern Sierra forests killed by drought and wildfire in last decade

LA Times  

A helicopter drops water on the Windy fire last year in the Trail of 100 Giants grove of Sequoia National Forest. As climate change continues to transform California’s landscape in staggering and often irreversible ways, researchers have zeroed in on yet another casualty of the shift: the forests of the southern Sierra Nevada. “Thirty percent of conifer forests in the …

California drought deepens as wet season is anything but
2 years, 11 months ago

California drought deepens as wet season is anything but

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy California is experiencing one of …

After California wildfire, thousands of trees to be removed
3 years, 5 months ago

After California wildfire, thousands of trees to be removed

India TV News  

In the wake of California wildfires, upwards of 10,000 trees weakened by fires, drought, disease or age must be removed, work that will keep a nearby highway closed to visitors who seek the world’s two largest sequoia trees. The hazard trees could potentially fall onto people and cars on the section of State Route 180 known as Generals Highway, or …

Historic drought threatens California farms
3 years, 7 months ago

Historic drought threatens California farms

Al Jazeera  

Farmers say extreme weather and policies meant to combat climate change have left their fields barren. “I had two wells dry up last week,” 28-year-old Nick Foglio, a fourth-generation farmer and feed broker, told AFP news agency. Standing in a dusty field near Fresno, he said he worries that with “the wrong political agenda, we’re simply going to starve ourselves …

Tree planting could play ‘crucial role’ in helping Europe adapt to worsening droughts
3 years, 8 months ago

Tree planting could play ‘crucial role’ in helping Europe adapt to worsening droughts

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Tree planting could play a “crucial role” in helping European countries adapt to worsening droughts …

Bears, insects and rattlesnakes invading populated parts of California because of drought
3 years, 9 months ago

Bears, insects and rattlesnakes invading populated parts of California because of drought

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. "In the urban areas, we have 24/7 access to food, water and shelter, and if you think about it …

In Pictures: Across US West, drought arriving dangerously early
3 years, 9 months ago

In Pictures: Across US West, drought arriving dangerously early

Al Jazeera  

Lakes at historically low levels, unusually early forest fires, restrictions on water use and now a potentially record heatwave: even before summer’s start the United States’ West is suffering the effects of chronic drought made worse by climate change. Widespread water-use restrictions appear inevitable over the coming months, with potentially serious ramifications for Western states, in particular for irrigation-dependent farmers …

California fire killed 10% of world’s redwood trees, study says
3 years, 9 months ago

California fire killed 10% of world’s redwood trees, study says

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy At least a tenth of the world’s mature giant sequoias were destroyed by a single …

On tap in California: Another drought four years after last
3 years, 11 months ago

On tap in California: Another drought four years after last

Associated Press  

LOS ANGELES — California’s hopes for a wet “March miracle” did not materialize and a dousing of April showers may as well be a mirage at this point. “The time in between the end of the last drought and, possibly, the beginning of this next one isn’t that long,” Chappelle said. “Guys are in a really tough spot when they …

Stronger, frequent forest fires effecting tree's carbon sink capabilities: Study
4 years, 1 month ago

Stronger, frequent forest fires effecting tree's carbon sink capabilities: Study

Firstpost  

Stronger and more frequent wildfires are reducing forests’ ability to store carbon in a trend that will likely not be offset by planting new trees, a study said Thursday. Because not all areas are suitable for mass reforestation, and because the long-term impact of fires take decades to gauge, the team said simply replanting the trees would likely fail to …

The frightening implications of California’s first million-acre fire
4 years, 5 months ago

The frightening implications of California’s first million-acre fire

LA Times  

It was mid-August and California was experiencing yet another bout of extreme weather. On Monday, it reached “gigafire” status, burning more than 1 million acres, setting a new record for the state and offering what experts say is a terrifying window into how climate change and other factors such as mismanaged forests are worsening the state’s fire danger. “If that’s …

Dry Trees 'Just Explode', President Trump Blames California For US Wildfire
4 years, 6 months ago

Dry Trees 'Just Explode', President Trump Blames California For US Wildfire

ABP News  

As per the report on the global media The Independent, Donald Trump pinned the blame on Democratic state leaders on the West Coast for forest fires for poor forest management, implying it is bound to happen because dry trees can “just explode.” US President Donald Trump has once again grabbed the limelight because the comment on infernos across California, Oregon, …

Trump blames California forest management for deadly fires - is he right?
4 years, 6 months ago

Trump blames California forest management for deadly fires - is he right?

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy President Trump on Monday again pushed the claim that fires, like the dozens currently burning …

California is broiling and burning. Here are ideas for dealing with climate despair
4 years, 7 months ago

California is broiling and burning. Here are ideas for dealing with climate despair

LA Times  

Wind turbines near the 10 freeway in Cabazon are framed by the smoke from the Lake fire. My colleagues Tony Barboza, Louis Sahagun and Joseph Serna looked at the big picture, writing that “millions are experiencing the havoc that ensues with extreme weather that is growing more frequent with climate change.” California’s power grid operator faulted the Public Utilities Commission …

The trouble with relying on trees as carbon sink to do our global warming bidding
6 years, 1 month ago

The trouble with relying on trees as carbon sink to do our global warming bidding

Firstpost  

A new study based on satellite data was published this week in Nature Sustainability, claiming that humans have added nearly five and a half million square kilometers in tree cover or leaf area since 2000. This could be significant when it comes down to matters of reducing atmospheric carbon — a major concern today with countries setting lofty goals to …

18 million trees died in California last year; officials say that’s an improvement
6 years, 1 month ago

18 million trees died in California last year; officials say that’s an improvement

LA Times  

Orange-shaded dead conifers on a ridgeline that have succumbed to drought and disease are interspersed among living ponderosa and sugar pine trees in Sequoia National Park on Dec. 13, 2016. Another 18 million trees in California died over the last year, a grim toll that nonetheless officials see as a sign the epic forest die-off in the state’s mountains is …

Bigger wildfires. Worsening droughts. More disease. How climate change is battering California
6 years, 4 months ago

Bigger wildfires. Worsening droughts. More disease. How climate change is battering California

LA Times  

Bigger, more dangerous wildfires. Here are some key excerpts from the report about how global warming is already changing California: Wildfires Analyses estimated that the area burned by wildfire across the western United States from 1984 to 2015 was twice what would have burned had climate change not occurred. Allowing naturally ignited fires to burn in wilderness areas and preemptively …

When trees make rain: Could restoring forests help ease drought in Australia?
6 years, 6 months ago

When trees make rain: Could restoring forests help ease drought in Australia?

ABC  

If you've ever walked in a rainforest or even a greenhouse, you'll know that the air inside is heavy with moisture. Although people have guessed that forests could help make rain, it's always been a chicken-or-egg scenario: do forests make rain or do areas with high rainfall grow forests? The evidence for what is called "recycling of rainfall" in the …

Must Reads: Climate change will be deadlier, more destructive and costlier for California than previously believed, state warns
6 years, 7 months ago

Must Reads: Climate change will be deadlier, more destructive and costlier for California than previously believed, state warns

LA Times  

Trees shrouded in smoke from the Ferguson Fire, which burned more than 96,000 acres near Yosemite National Park. “These findings are profoundly serious and will continue to guide us as we confront the apocalyptic threat of irreversible climate change.” The state’s assessment draws on the latest science, including more than 40 new peer-reviewed studies, to project the effects of the …

Forests that store greenhouse gases must be preserved to meet climate change targets, scientists warn
6 years, 7 months ago

Forests that store greenhouse gases must be preserved to meet climate change targets, scientists warn

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Sucking carbon from the atmosphere using new technologies will be vital to protect the planet …

How Is A 1,600-Year-Old Tree Weathering California's Drought?
8 years, 5 months ago

How Is A 1,600-Year-Old Tree Weathering California's Drought?

NPR  

How Is A 1,600-Year-Old Tree Weathering California's Drought? "We don't really understand a lot of things," he says, "like exactly how a drought kills a tree, or what's going on underground. Sponsor Message "I consider myself a forest canopy biologist," Williams says as he buckles on a climbing harness festooned with clips, carabiners, and an ascender — a kind of …

Op-Ed: California should take the lead on protecting tropical forests
8 years, 8 months ago

Op-Ed: California should take the lead on protecting tropical forests

LA Times  

In Sacramento, an opportunity is pending that could make a huge difference to achieving climate stability and sustainable development goals on a global scale. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change recognizes the problem of deforestation and endorses an approach in which rich countries provide results-based payments to developing countries to reward forest conservation. The ARB could propose to include …

El Niño rains added fuel to California’s upcoming fire season, experts say
8 years, 10 months ago

El Niño rains added fuel to California’s upcoming fire season, experts say

LA Times  

As he drove east of Fresno to the next Wildfire Awareness Week event in Kern County on Wednesday, Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott turned his gaze toward the browning landscape. Thanks to El Niño rains and a fifth year of drought, experts say, California’s landscape has provided enough water to spring up new vegetation to ignite while swaths of forest …

X-ray technology reveals California’s forests are in for a radical transformation
9 years, 5 months ago

X-ray technology reveals California’s forests are in for a radical transformation

LA Times  

Standing outside the Dornier 228 turboprop, Greg Asner meets with aircraft engineer Sheldon DeCosse. To explain what 120 million trees dying across the state might mean, Asner paints a picture of California’s ecological diversity and size. “We don’t know when the lack of rain will lead to runaway conditions where the forests are beyond repair.” Such a transition, especially in …

Study Finds Global Warming Has Made California's Drought Worse
9 years, 7 months ago

Study Finds Global Warming Has Made California's Drought Worse

Huff Post  

Global warming is worsening the effects of California's historic drought, according to a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters this week. "New scientific reports now make it crystal clear that climate change is already affecting California and the Southwest in the form of higher temperatures and a more devastating drought," California Gov. MARK RALSTON via Getty Images The …

California drought: Climate change plays a role, study says. But how big?
9 years, 7 months ago

California drought: Climate change plays a role, study says. But how big?

LA Times  

Canyon Ranch, near Shandon, Calif., shown here in May, is one of the areas of the state most affected by the drought. In other words, without heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions causing temperatures to rise, the drought would have been 8% to 27% less severe than it is, said John Abatzoglou, a University of Idaho climate researcher and coauthor of a …

Drought kills 12 million trees in California’s national forests
9 years, 10 months ago

Drought kills 12 million trees in California’s national forests

LA Times  

Dead and dying trees turn to brown amid healthier green trees in El Portal on the banks of the Merced River, a few miles south of Yosemite. Rangers in the San Bernardino National Forest call them “red trees.” Instead of the typical deep green color, large swaths of pine trees now don hues of death, their dehydrated needles turning brown …

California's drought is 'very likely' linked to climate change, scientists say
10 years, 6 months ago

California's drought is 'very likely' linked to climate change, scientists say

Daily Mail  

The unprecedented drought currently afflicting California is 'very likely' linked to human-caused climate change, researchers have found. They say a persistent region of high atmospheric pressure hovering over the Pacific Ocean that diverted storms away from California was much more likely to form in the presence of modern greenhouse gas concentrations. An irrigation canal that is drying up near Yuba …

The California Drought Is Far From Over, And The Entire State Is Suffering
10 years, 10 months ago

The California Drought Is Far From Over, And The Entire State Is Suffering

Huff Post  

FILE -- In this Feb. 22, 2008 file photo is the 602-foot, concrete Shasta Dam near Shasta, Calif. California's drought has sparked a new push by federal lawmakers to create or expand a handful of reservoirs around the state. “You’ve got a lot more people using a relatively finite amount of water.” The map below, courtesy of the U.S. Drought …

树木之困
12 years, 1 month ago

树木之困

China Daily  

Trees have been one of the most stable and reliable companions of human beings since the very beginning. The Texas A&M Forest Service issued a damage report in last September: More than 300 million trees died in Texas forests alone as a result of the 2011 drought. Park Williams, a scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico …

树木之困
12 years, 1 month ago

树木之困

China Daily  

Trees have been one of the most stable and reliable companions of human beings since the very beginning. The Texas A&M Forest Service issued a damage report in last September: More than 300 million trees died in Texas forests alone as a result of the 2011 drought. Park Williams, a scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico …

Tree deaths linked to climate change
12 years, 6 months ago

Tree deaths linked to climate change

China Daily  

Get Flash Player Download Hot and dry conditions triggered by climate change are killing the world's trees, according to a new report which examines dozens of scientific articles on the subject. “One of the ways that we expect climate change to increasingly play out in forests is through these widespread tree mortality events where you stress the trees enough that …

Tree deaths linked to climate change
12 years, 6 months ago

Tree deaths linked to climate change

China Daily  

Get Flash Player Download Hot and dry conditions triggered by climate change are killing the world's trees, according to a new report which examines dozens of scientific articles on the subject. “One of the ways that we expect climate change to increasingly play out in forests is through these widespread tree mortality events where you stress the trees enough that …

Tree deaths linked to climate change
12 years, 6 months ago

Tree deaths linked to climate change

China Daily  

Get Flash Player Download Hot and dry conditions triggered by climate change are killing the world's trees, according to a new report which examines dozens of scientific articles on the subject. “One of the ways that we expect climate change to increasingly play out in forests is through these widespread tree mortality events where you stress the trees enough that …

Tree deaths in Western US linked to climate change-英语点津
16 years, 1 month ago

Tree deaths in Western US linked to climate change-英语点津

China Daily  

Download Also: A project to make electronic maps of soil in Africa. VOICE ONE: Scientists have found that trees are dying at an increasing rate in the western United States. VOICE ONE: The new study found increasing death rates of several kinds of forests, like pine, fir and hemlock. VOICE TWO: The scientists say they found that one kind of …

Discover Related