California’s native blue oak faces destruction due to worsening drought
A new study released Monday found that recent years of drought in California devastated the state’s blue oak woodlands, destroying more than 460 square miles of blue oak, a tree only found in the Golden State. Named for the color of its leaves, the blue oak woodlands date back to pre-European settlement and are considered “one of the most biologically diverse” ecosystems in the state, according to the study published in the journal Frontiers in Climate.