Dead Forest Trees Threaten Forest Safety
In this oped co-authored by SAF member David Bischel, he argues that
the tree mortality epidemic we are experiencing is a combination of overcrowded forests and five years of drought, which weakens the trees’ natural defense mechanism and makes them unable to fight off bark beetles and other pests. While the bark beetle has nothing to do with causing wildfires, when one does erupt, the drought-killed trees will burn faster, longer, hotter and more unpredictably — posing even greater danger to public safety and firefighters.
Read the
entire article here.