Southern California Forests Are Shrinking From Wildfire and Drought, Study Finds

Forest canopies from the mountains of San Diego to San Bernardino and up to Santa Barbara have sharply declined over the last four decades as a result of climate change-fueled wildfire and drought.

That’s according to a new study from the University of California Irvine that documented a loss of tree cover across the entire state — led by Southern California, where forests have shrunk by 14 percent since 1985.