Combination of drought, heat and voracious bark beetles has killed 26 million trees in the Sierra Nevada over the last eight months

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-drought-dead-trees-20160622-snap-story.html

Quote
yosemitejim
Combination of drought, heat and voracious bark beetles has killed 26 million trees in the Sierra Nevada over the last eight months

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-drought-dead-trees-20160622-snap-story.html

So scary and so sad. Each time we go to Yosemite there are more and more dead trees even if it has only been weeks between visits.

The biggest die-offs seem to be in the lower parts of the treeline. Last fall when I drove to Sequoia it was incredible how many dead trees there are along CA-180 west of CA-245.

There are a lot of dead trees moving up the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River east of Moro Rock. Fortunately didn't see many at the higher altitudes. Been watching the last few dry hot summers, and wondered what was keeping the trees alive. I was hoping the summer monsoon rains were helping, but I guess it was too late for a lot of trees. We are seeing some landscapes change rapidly.

From 2009:

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,16050,16050#msg-16050

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I've seen lots of bark beetle ravaged trees in Rocky Mountain National Park about 10 years ago. The San Bernardino Mountains have been dealing with bark beetles for about 10 years. I've also seen many dead trees in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains and parts of Wyoming a couple years ago. Now becoming a familiar sight in the Sierra.