The statement identifies the following causes:
The U.S. Forest Service is also having to use more of its resources fight wildfires rather than restoring forests, according to the release. Fire management rose to 56 percent of the Forest Service's budget last year and is expected to hit 67 percent of the budget in 2025. At the same time, dead and dying trees increase wildfire risk, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release.
- Five consecutive years of severe drought in California
- A dramatic rise in bark beetle infestation
- Warmer temperatures
"USDA has made restoration work and the removal of excess fuels a top priority, but until Congress passes a permanent fix to the fire budget, we can't break this cycle of diverting funds away from restoration work to fight the immediate threat of the large unpredictable fires caused by the fuel buildups themselves," Vilsack said.
The majority of the dead trees are in the southern and central Sierra Nevada region, according to the release. But there's also been a rise in the number of dead trees in the northern part of the state.
"We must fund wildfire suppression like other natural disasters in the country," Vilsack said.
The release notes that California has had a record wildfire season, with the Blue Cut fire burning 30,000 acres and more than 120,000 acres burning this fall in the southeastern United States.
If trees were people this would be headline news. Yet without trees our world would not survive. Trees and other plants are not only the oxygen generators, purifiers and fragrance of the planet but the carbon collectors, energy suppliers, shade providers, and weather vanes. Like straws, their roots draw water from the earth. Like air conditioning units, their leaves filter carbon from the air.
Thank you plant realm.