California's perma-drought has led to the death of more that 102 million trees in the last six years.
From SF Gate:
Scientists blame five-plus years of drought on the increasing tree deaths — tree "fatalities" increased by 100 percent in 2016 — but the rate of their demise has been much faster than expected, increasing the risk of ecologically damaging erosion and wildfires even bigger than the largest blazes the state's seen this year.
"It's not beyond the pale to suggest that this is a pretty unprecedented event in at least recent history," said Adrian Das, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
