What all those dead trees mean for the Sierra Nevada

[petronius]

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The U.S. Forest Service estimates that since 2010, more than 102 million drought-stressed and beetle-ravaged trees have died across 7.7 million acres of California forest. More than half of those died last year alone.

Exacerbated by anti-wildfire policies that produced a crowded forest more vulnerable to drought, the massive dieback is unprecedented in the recorded history of the Sierra.

The beetle epidemic is transforming the 4,500-foot to 6,000-foot elevation band of the central and southern range for decades to come, if not permanently. The sheer scale of mortality means that outside of developed areas, it’s likely that most of the tree corpses will be left to topple over.

It will takes centuries to replace the legions of majestic old pines that have succumbed — if that is even possible in a warmer future that promises to alter the forest in ways ecologists can only guess.

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http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-sierra-dead-trees-20170128-story.html


Ecologist Adrian Das, looks over the paths of bark beetles that led to the death of a white fir tree in a plot of land that ecologists have been studying since 1992. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Nice long survey of our forest changes and future: drought, fire management, climate change...

[CountAllVotes]

1. Much of this is clear-cut too

Just what you don't want nor need!

A bunch of land in this region that is contaminated with poisons and clear-cut and now turned into massive mud slides from all of the rain and snow.



& recommend!!