Trees in Western U.S. Forests Dying Due to Climate Change

[doodadem]

Source: Washington Post

Death Rates Have Doubled, Researchers Find

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 22, 2009; 4:35 PM

The death rates of trees in western U.S. forests have doubled over the past two to three decades, driven in large part by warmer temperatures and water scarcity linked to climate change, a new study spearheaded by the U.S. Geological Survey has found.

The findings, published today in the online journal Science Express, examined changes in 76 long-term forest plots in three broad regions across the West, and found similar shifts regardless of the areas' elevation, fire history, dominant species and tree sizes. It is the largest research project based on old-growth forests in North America.

(snip)

If current tree mortality rates continue and even accelerate, the paper's authors warned, there is a chance that U.S. forests could shift from being a carbon sink that takes greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere to becoming a net emitter of carbon dioxide. Franklin said policymakers should keep that in mind when negotiating a new international climate pact.





Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/22/AR2009012202473.html

---

We live next to King's Canyon and Sequoia national Parks. The ancient redwoods there are showing damage from pollution drifting up from the San Joaquin Valley below (BIG, big industrial farms).

[WriteDown]

1. Climate change?

I would think it would be more to uncontrolled sprawl and housing developments using unbelievable amounts of water.

[Demeter]

2. Yeah, Well, You Wouldn't Want to Hurt the Developers, Now, Would You?

the real scientists will be back in business shortly--I'll take my data further upstream.

[Xipe Totec]

3. If you forget me

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

- Pablo Neruda

[jennied]

19. Nice.

[cosmicone]

4. Look at the stupidy of freepers re: this !!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2169792/posts

[Politicalboi]

12. They are stupid

I go there sometimes to get a laugh but it's hard not to post. I don't want any e-mail from these idiots.

"They’re most likely dieing off because they tend to live immoral lives". From Norm's Revenge. LOL!

Stupid is as Stupid does.

[Kitty Herder]

43. Trees dying because they live immoral lives?

Surely that's a joke.

[SpiralHawk]

20. Freepers HATE truth and facts

As they consistently prove.

[Suich]

5. The pine beetle is kiiling them here. n/t

[leftyclimber]

8. That's because the winters aren't as cold and natural pest control

isn't happening. Freezes would take infestations out previously.

It's all interconnected.

[Hissyspit]

9. Increases in pine beetle populations will occur due to rising temperatures.

I don't have the info on it, and I'm busy right now, but maybe someone can google it.

[bhikkhu]

11. Here in Oregon too

as beetles have already killed so much forest that I know lifelong hunters who won't go far off the road anymore, because in the event of a fire there are so many areas that would go up so fast you'd never get out.

Beetles are extremely responsive to climate change, and the warmer winters are probably the biggest factor in their population growth. Scientists studying ancient strata for clues to climate shifts often look at the varying beetle populations as a strong indicator.

[Arugula Latte]

17. Yep -- There are huge swaths of brown trees.

Very scary and unsettling to see.

[HillbillyBob]

22. The pine bark beetles are spreading so fast out west in part due

to lack of good hard freezes and lack of water for the tree to remain healthy.
Then a too weak 'immune' response by the tree loading up the area where the beetles are with that sticky sap that smothers them does not happen. That from a report I read, I can't recall and had the puter blow up and lose the book marks I had saved.
Where we are in NC we are having the same problem, drought for 3 years in a row and we are losing a bunch of pines on our property, also in Western NC in the Pisgah National forest there seems to be a big pine bark beetle problem.
We plan on cutting them and burning the limbs and bark since they supposedly don't eat the timber part we will have it saw into lumber for building projects we need to do here at the farm and replant with native hardwoods, nuts and fruit trees.
Though this past weeks temperature drop to 2 on Fri night, 12 on Sat night and 10 on Sun and Mon nights..that should put a dent in the population of bark beetles.
The dying and dead trees are becoming a fire hazard which scares the bejeebus out of me.

[laundry_queen]

29. It's reaching all the way to where I am.

Just in the last couple of years, they have discovered the pine beetle is now here. This has never happened before. I'm in far north B.C. Canada, and a good portion of the province is dealing with this now.

[Tinksrival]

33. On a recent trip to the Denver area...

I was shocked at the forest devastation. The East foot hills of the Rocky's was nothing but dead pine trees. Mountain after mountain. When we return red to the hotel I goggled it right away and of course it was being argued as a natural occurrence that has happened for thousands of years.
That place is a tinder box. It must be frightening and heartbreaking for those home owners.

Edit to ad pic

[Kitty Herder]

42. The pine beetle infestation is largely caused by global warming.

Warm winters and drier summers have weakened the trees' natural defenses.

[jpak]

6. Deniers can STFU

n/t

[Politicalboi]

7. Why don't they pipe the water

If we invested in a pipeline that takes river overflow, snow melt and spread it throughout the US we would be able to use this water to keep lakes and trees alive. All that water during Katrina could have been channeled and use for good. If it were oil you bet your ass we would pipe it. It would cost a fortune now but in the long run to never have to worry about flooding. Even more so with Global Warming. All that water wasted and lives lost and property damage. That would be one huge green job. But worth it.

[NickB79]

45. That's about as doable as the plan to asphalt over the Great Plains to end the Dust Bowl in the 30's

"That would be one huge green job."

How exactly would laying MILLIONS of miles of pipe, crisscrossing the last remaining natural ecosystems in our nation, using up God-knows-how-much fuel and natural resources, be a green job???

[bertman]

10. This could be devastating to the toilet paper industry. They could be wiped out.

Sorry. I know this is a serious issue, but I couldn't resist.

I don't know about that pipeline idea, Politicalbol. But it is interesting.

[balantz]

13. Please, no jokes, it is a serious tissue!

Really though I agree, it is a serious issue.

[Politicalboi]

15. It would take a lot of work

It would require levey reconstruction which I'm sure the Obama administration has looked at. I hope somebody could do it. It makes sense. Why let it fall to the ground when we can use it. We need it.

[The abyss]

16. Kind of like…

“Wipe your ass with a Spotted Owl”?

Years back there was a wav file being send around. It was popular with the professional loggers and foresters at the time. I wish I could find that one!

[glinda]

14. Trees in Northern MN have been dying due to Climate Change for

at least 15 years now for cryin out loud. They are dying in my neighborhood in mid-MN.

[NickB79]

46. We're losing our moose population in MN too due to climate change

:cry:

[8 track mind]

18. I go camping at the south rim

of the grand canyon every year. One thing i have noticed in the Kaibab National Forest is that the trees seem to have a short lifespan. Judging by the size of the fallen trees, it seems they are roughly 25 to 30 years old. There is not much in the way of old growth in this forest. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Tempest]

21. Actually, the pollution is drifting down from the Bay area

And it settles in the south San Joaquin Valley against the mountains.

That's why Bakersfield (where I live) has the worst air pollution in the state (and competes with Texas as the worst in the nation).

[bitchkitty]

23. You're so lucky to live there.

It must break your heart to see the damaged trees. I think that is probably the most beautiful place in the world.

[ro1942]

24. population

How about talking population control and getting rid of the dumbass plastic bottles, we are the most wasteful, spoiled and gluttonous people on the planet.

[Barrett808]

25. Western Canada: 80% of mature pine dead by 2013

http://mpb.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/map_e.html

[defendandprotect]

28. Didn't the US have a lot to do with Canada's acid rain, etc. . . . ???

When the US plants were told to trap their toxic fumes - they instead elongated

the smoke stacks sending the fumes/toxins higher into the air and on their way

to Canada ...

[dysfunctional press]

26. if they need to replace the carbon sink as the forests die off- hemp would be a good choice...

i'd rather see new forests- but it doesn't sound like that's what the future holds for the area.

[defendandprotect]

27. "The Dying of the Trees" . . . Chas. Little --

First -- we should stick with "Global Warming" because that's what it's always been

called -- and secondly because it makes clear that we are talking about "warming" the

atmosphere which creates erratic weather -- and certainly NOT about something natural

occurring.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution scientists have seen the damage to

trees/nature and understood this questionable path of pollution.

In the late 1950's, models of Global Warming explained the disaster we were creating.

Chas. Little's book came out in paperback in '97.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In a thoroughly researched book, Little (Hope for the Land) documents the depressing state of U.S. forests. Individual trees are dying at unprecedented rates, numerous woody species are at risk of extinction and the country's forests are disappearing as intact ecosystems. The devastation stretches across the land and is eerily similar to losses observed in Europe. Although the immediate cause of death varies, Little and the numerous ecologists and foresters whom he interviewed argue convincingly that the best explanation is ultimately the environmental havoc humans have wrought. Acid rain, heavy metal contamination, smog, increased ultraviolet rays streaming through the growing hole in the ozone layer and atrocious management of forests?from clear-cutting to fire suppression?have so weakened individual trees, as well as ecosystems, that once-routine pests may now be responsible for destruction on an unprecedented scale. This book should significantly alter the way we think about our relationship to the natural world.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Caught as we are in a spell of denial and backlash, we're told that environmental concerns have been greatly exaggerated and we no longer need all those pesky laws and regulations. Not so fast says environmental journalist Little, everything is not okay--trees are dying all over the U.S. Little presents the terrible facts about such calamities as the extinction of the eastern dogwood, the toll acid rain has taken on trees from Vermont to North Carolina, and the human-caused plague killing California's ponderosa pine. He also explains how logging and fire prevention alter the composition of forests and lead to such fatal imbalances as the massive increases in regional populations of the tree-killing gypsy moth. Little traces the origins of all these forms of tree death to 150 years of full-throttle industrialization and then firmly reminds us that trees are essential to life on earth as we hope to live it. Sobering, responsible, and eloquent, this is an important book. Donna Seaman

[Jack_DeLeon]

30. I thought it was the beatle infestations that are killing them?

[cascadiance]

31. But the Beatles are dying out too...

John, George... RIP!

[JeanGrey]

32. Three decades ago we were being bombarded with the new

"global cooling" that was going to kill us all because of pollution. Remember? It was all the scientists talked about. Pollution was causing a layer of dirt that would block out the sun, every bad winter was because of it and if something wasn't done we were all going to freeze to death.

[Barrett808]

34. "Global cooling in the 70s" turns out to be an urban legend:

The global cooling mole
By John Fleck and William Connolley

To veterans of the Climate Wars, the old 1970s global cooling canard - "How can we believe climate scientists about global warming today when back in the 1970s they told us an ice age was imminent?" - must seem like a never-ending game of Whack-a-mole. One of us (WMC) has devoted years to whacking down the mole, while the other of us (JF) sees the mole pop up anew in his in box every time he quotes contemporary scientific views regarding climate change in his newspaper stories.

The problem is that the argument has played out in competing anecdotes, without any comprehensive and rigorous picture of what was really going on in the scientific literature at the time. But if the argument is to have any relevance beyond talking points aimed at winning a debate, such a comprehensive understanding is needed. If, indeed, climate scientists predicted a coming ice age, it is worthwhile to take the next step and understand why they thought this, and what relevance it might have to today's science-politics-policy discussions about climate change. If, on the other hand, scientists were not really predicting a coming ice age, then the argument needs to be retired.

The two of us, along with Tom Peterson of the National Climatic Data Center, undertook a literature review to try to move beyond the anecdotes and understand what scientists were really saying at the time regarding the various forces shaping climate on time human time scales. The results are currently in press at the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, and Doyle Rice has written a nice summary in USA Today, and an extended version based on a presentation made by Tom at the AMS meeting in January is on line (http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/131047.pdf).

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2008/03/the-global-cooling-mole/langswitch_lang/in

Anthropogenic global warming is real and the single greatest threat humanity faces -- for the next several centuries.

[JeanGrey]

47. So they say now but it was very real and touted by scientists

back then.

[Barrett808]

49. Jean, let me explain in more detail what happened:

In the 70s, climate scientists were finally getting solid evidence from sediment cores that supported the Milanković hypothesis: small changes in insolation due to Earth's orbital dynamics are responsible for ice ages. From this is was possible to estimate when the next ice age should begin, if the natural cycle were not disturbed by human influences. The upshot: the new ice should be starting about now, with the global average temperature very slowly falling over the next several millennia. The was the "global cooling" prediction.

In addition, climate scientists were getting a better understanding of the role of aerosols in the atmosphere. Sulfate particles reflect sunlight back into space, causing a cooling effect. So it was now possible to say with confidence that sulfate haze from industrialization had caused the mid-20th century cooling.

Both discoveries greatly improved our understanding of the planet's climate. To learn more about climate science, I always recommend Spencer Weart's excellent history, The Discovery of Global Warming (http://www.aip.org/history/climate).

[hatrack]

35. Talk to the hand - "70s Ice Age Scare" debunked repeatedly & in detail

:eyes:

[Pike]

40. MMGW

I'm just not convinced that man is the main factor in global warming. More research should be done to make sure that our next move is the correct one.

[Barrett808]

41. Two great resources to learn about anthropogenic global warming:

RealClimate Start Here:
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here

The Discovery of Global Warming
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/index.html

[JeanGrey]

48. I have fond memories of demonstrating against "global

cooling".

[Barrett808]

50. Please see my post #49

You were really demonstrating against sulfate pollution, which was a worthy cause.

[Barrett808]

36. Some photos to convey the enormous scale of the mass die-off of Western forests

The damage is visible from orbit:





All red/brown trees are dead. The rest will die in a few years:



Scientific instruments attached to the top of 33-metre towers are measuring the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere above beetle-infected forests.


Because winters are so much warmer, the infestation spreads very rapidly:



BC forest before infestation


BC forest five years later


Mega-fires consume the entire forest, leaving deserts in their wake.




Climate change is the single greatest threat facing humanity -- for the next several centuries.

[Tempest]

37. Holy Crap, Batman!

That's scary.

ThanK you ever so much for those pictures.

[Barrett808]

38. Terrifying, isn't it?

Our children will inherit deserts, where once were forests.

[Tempest]

39. I live in the desert

So I'm removed from what is happening in our forests.

That's why I treasure DU. You learn so much.

[gulfcoastliberal]

44. This situation is quite dreadful.

I wish I could fool myself into thinking it doesn't matter. Dumbass freepers.