While reforestation efforts have generally been successful, the scale and frequency of wildfires are increasing so much that some forests will likely be unable to regenerate on their own.
John,
It’s well known that climate change is drastically affecting our environment. Whether it’s rising sea levels or melting glaciers in the arctic, we can see very clearly how rising global temperatures affect our planet. But an often overlooked aspect of climate change’s destruction is its effect on one of our most important tools to fight against it — our trees.
Trees act as a sort of sponge, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and releasing oxygen in return. But all over the country, our trees are vanishing. Massive wildfires in California have burned away millions of acres of forests over the past few years. While reforestation efforts have generally been successful, the scale and frequency of wildfires are increasing so much that some forests will likely be unable to regenerate on their own.
Such is the case across the Sierra Nevada, where at least 2.5 million acres of trees have burned since 2020. A study published last fall by researchers at the University of California (UC) Irvine and UC Davis found that rising summer temperatures will increase the acreage burned by up to 92% over the next twenty years.
As if wildfires weren't bad enough, worsening droughts are also endangering our precious forests' lives. A study published in the journal Nature earlier this year showed that the ongoing megadrought plaguing the Southwest – the driest in 1,200 years – has critically weakened the ancient bristlecone pine trees in Death Valley National Park.
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