California's Long Drought Has Killed 100 Million Trees
The lingering drought in California has killed more than 100 million trees, according to the U.S. Forest Service's latest aerial survey.
The recent death count found that 62 million trees have died just this year in California, bringing the six-year total to more than 102 million. More than five years of drought are to blame for the tree deaths, scientists said, adding that tree "fatalities" increased by 100 percent in 2016.
The agency said that millions of additional trees are expected to die in the coming months and years. California's drought has affected 7.7 million acres of forests, putting the region's whole ecology at risk.
With more dead trees in forests, wildfires have a "fuel buildup" that could lead to large, unpredictable fires. California has experienced longer, hotter fire seasons in recent years, and USFS scientists said that they expect tree mortality to continue at elevated levels in 2017.
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