Researchers: Drought creating California 'ghost forests'
Survey finds 6.3M dead trees in southern Sierra Nevada
Federal researchers said they they have found some of the greatest numbers yet of trees killed by the ongoing California drought.
In a report released Monday evening, researchers for the U.S. Forest Service estimated 6.3 million trees have died in an area of the Sierra Nevada foothills stretching from Placerville to Porterville.
Jeffrey Moore, a biological scientist for the Forest Service, estimated 20 to 30 percent of the trees were dying or dead during an aerial survey of the zone in early July.
"This is the area of the state that's really been most affected by the drought for four years now," Moore said.
This latest report is part of an ongoing statewide aerial survey of the effects of the drought on California's forests.
The scientists fly low in a plane over the forest and estimate the number of trees that appear to be dead.
A preliminary survey conducted in April found 12 million dead trees in parts of the southern Sierra Nevada and the mountains of Southern California.
Moore said the spring survey focused largely on evergreen conifers because deciduous oak trees had yet to sprout leaves.
"Now we can tell for sure that (the oaks) didn't leaf out at all and a lot of them probably dropped their leaves right as they were coming on," he said.
Drought makes trees, particularly pine trees, susceptible to infestations of bark beetles.
Moore said those trees are not likely to recover even if the drought eases during the coming months because of above-average rain- and snowfall.
"I expect that in the really bad areas whole stands of pine trees may no longer be there and you'll probably a kind of ghost forest," he said.
Tom Sinton, owner of Starfield Vineyard, has seen one of those "ghost forests" with his own eyes.
Recently, he had to cut down about 70 of the pine trees that border his rows of grape vines near Placerville.
Sinton says within six weeks the drought had weakened the pines so much they became infested with bark beetles and died.
"They went very, very fast. Yeah, it was shockingly fast," Sinton said.
Chad Dykstra, an arborist for Foothill Tree Service, said he has never seen anything like it.
Furthermore, he said he has never been so busy with calls to have dead trees removed.
Depending on the size of the tree, removal can cost up to $4,000 to $5,000.
Sometimes, Dykstra said, the tree's owner has no choice.
"We've seen some cities urging, especially if it's in a public spot, they're going to urge the person to remove the tree," he said.
However, Dkystra said, while beetle-infested pine trees are not likely to survive, he often urges owners of brown and leafless oak trees to wait before having them removed.
He said oaks are particularly drought resistant and a soaking wet winter might be enough to revive them.