Arizona forests at risk of vanishing by 2023, researcher says

Every acre of Arizona's forests could be damaged or destroyed by 2023 unless fire prevention and restoration issues are addressed, a researcher said.
The number of trees burned has been steadily increasing since the 1960s due to wildfires, bark beetle infestation, lack of tree thinning, continuous drought and the introduction of foreign weed species, said Wally Covington, director of the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University.
"If these traits continue, we have 20 years before virtually every acre is affected or degraded," Covington said Wednesday during a Joint Legislative Healthy Forest Task Force hearing...