Photos: California’s iconic forests disappearing to fire, climate change
Trees scorched by the Caldor Fire smolder in Eldorado National Forest, Calif., Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Scientists say forest is disappearing as increasingly intense fires alter landscapes around the planet, threatening wildlife, jeopardizing efforts to capture climate-warming carbon and harming water supplies. California has lost more than 1,760 square miles — nearly 7% — of its tree cover since 1985, a recent study found.
Hugh Safford, an environmental science and policy researcher at the University of California, Davis, examines vegetation growing out of the ashes of the 2021 Caldor Fire in Eldorado National Forest, Calif., near Lake Tahoe, on Oct. 22, 2022. Scientists say forest is disappearing as increasingly intense fires alter landscapes around the planet, threatening wildlife, jeopardizing efforts to capture climate-warming carbon and harming water supplies.
A large swath of forest destroyed by the 2007 Angora Fire can be seen from a ridgetop near Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Oct. 23, 2022. The Caldor Fire burned near the same area in 2021. Scientists say forest is disappearing as increasingly intense fires alter landscapes around the planet, threatening wildlife, jeopardizing efforts to capture climate-warming carbon and harming water supplies.
Hugh Safford, an environmental science and policy researcher at the University of California, Davis, examines damage Oct. 22, 2022, from the 2021 Caldor Fire in Eldorado National Forest, Calif., near Lake Tahoe.
Hugh Safford takes a photo Oct. 22, 2022, of trees torched by the 2021 Caldor Fire in Eldorado National Forest, Calif.
A sculpture rests in front of a Grizzly Flats home destroyed by the Caldor Fire in El Dorado County, Calif., on Aug. 17, 2021. Scientists say forest is disappearing as increasingly intense fires alter landscapes around the planet, threatening wildlife, jeopardizing efforts to capture climate-warming carbon and harming water supplies.
Hugh Safford, an environmental science and policy researcher at the University of California, Davis, examines a conifer sprouting from the ashes of the 2021 Caldor Fire on Oct. 22, 2022, in an area of Eldorado National Forest, Calif., that was less damaged by the blaze. Scientists say forest is disappearing as increasingly intense fires alter landscapes around the planet, threatening wildlife, jeopardizing efforts to capture climate-warming carbon and harming water supplies.
Pines that were cut down after being killed in the 2021 Caldor Fire lie on the floor of Eldorado National Forest, Calif., near Lake Tahoe, on Oct. 22, 2022. Scientists say forest is disappearing as increasingly intense fires alter landscapes around the planet, threatening wildlife, jeopardizing efforts to capture climate-warming carbon and harming water supplies.
A pine sprouting from the ashes of the 2007 Angora Fire pokes out of chaparral near Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Oct. 23, 2022. Scientists say forest is disappearing as increasingly intense fires alter landscapes around the planet, threatening wildlife, jeopardizing efforts to capture climate-warming carbon and harming water supplies.
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