California drought leading to tens of millions of trees dying in state
SAN JOSE -- California's deepening drought has resulted tens of millions of tree deaths, increasing the risk of wildfires and threatening the state's surviving trees.
"It's obviously a concern and sad as well," said Luis Garcia, who recently moved to the east foothills above San Jose's Alum Rock Park.
Cal Fire estimates more than 173 million trees have died either from bark beetles or directly as a result of the drought over the past 20 years.
"Those trees are going to fall at some point. But also it's a danger for wildfires because that's a lot of dry fuel left on the landscape. A lot of trees just waiting to burn if conditions are right for a fire to start," said Cal Fire's Senior Plant Pathologist Dr. Tom Smith, .
Smith says those trees pose a threat in every way imaginable.
"We have a lot of dead trees on the landscape," he said.
He says the challenge is that there simply is not the manpower, money or facilities to deal with the removal of millions of dead trees. It's a problem neighbors are fully aware of.
"They did clear out the road below us, but they left huge piles of debris, which remained for a couple of years," said homeowner Eugene Cisneros about Cal Fire's efforts to some downed limbs and dead trees.