Drought is killing the trees at Lake Tahoe
Fir trees are dying in the Lake Tahoe Basin at a quicker rate than in the rest of California. The trees are perishing in greater numbers and faster than previously seen before… Four thousand acres of trees in the Lake Tahoe Basin are affected by mass mortality, according to an aerial survey by the Forest Service in 2021. The survey found that around 70,000 trees are dead in Lake Tahoe, with over a million trees dead across the Tahoe National Forest. Across the entire state of California, the survey also found that 9.5 million trees had died. It is thought that the main driver of these deaths is the scorching drought that has gripped the state recently, leading to blisteringly high temperatures, water shortages, wildfires and other extreme weather.
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