CEE Environmental Engineering Professor Sally Thompson describes the unprecedented vulnerability of the state's forests to the current drought.
"These are trees that have lived 3,000 years, enduring a wide range of environmental conditions, including other droughts. And now they’re being killed by this drought. That’s suggestive of what we’re facing. We’re heading into uncharted territory,” says Thompson.
The good news: The forests of our forebears probably can be reclaimed. All we have to do is burn and cut down a lot of trees.
Thompson and UC Berkeley professor of environmental science, policy and management Scott Stephens are working on a project in Illilouette Creek basin in Yosemite National Park that seems to confirm the healing properties of fire.
See Fried to a Crisp: Why Some Experts Say We Must Burn the Trees to Save the Forests (California magazine, Nov. 12, 2015)