12,000 acres dead in Los Padres National Forest
By Christian Balderas
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MONTEREY, California (KSBW) — In an aerial survey conducted in 2022, U.S. Forest Services found 12,000 acres of dead trees in the Los Padres National Forest due to overgrown vegetation and the state’s ongoing drought.
Forest Services surveyed 2.6 million acres of private, state and federal land across California and found over 36 million acres of dead trees — almost three times as many compared to the year prior.
The damage in the Los Padres National Forest has more than doubled compared to 2021.
For Los Padres the dead trees are concentrated at Mt. Pinos, the highest elevated portion of the forest about 250 miles south of Monterey near Santa Barbara.
The situation is starkly different in the northern portion of the forest, where tree populations remain unchanged.
According to U.S. Forest Services, this is due in large part to the drought and wildfires.
Years of drought have left California trees susceptible to disease and insects, which is particularly worse in the Mt. Pinos area that doesn’t see routine-controlled burns.
“When you have a whole lot of fire, then the trees that survive all those fires are generally more fire because there’s more water more nutrients,” Jeff Moore, U.S. Forest Services’ aerial survey program manager, said.
The northern side of the Los Padres National Forest has seen multiple fires in recent years, like the Dolan Fire in 2020 which burned over 128,000 acres.
Comparatively, Mt. Pinos has dense, overgrown vegetation with unhealthy trees that are easily identified by their red, yellow and brown color.
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