West's trees dying faster as temperatures rise

The LA Times is reporting on a USGS study finding that more trees are dying in the west:

Death rates had doubled in British Columbia and the Pacific NW according to the study. California experienced the highest death rates, at 1.5 % per year.Scientists who examined decades of tree mortality data from research plots around the West found the death rate had risen as average temperatures in the region increased by more than 1 degree Fahrenheit. "Tree death rates have more than doubled over the last few decades in old-growth forests across the Western United States," said U.S. Geological Survey scientist Phillip van Mantgem, coauthor of a paper published in today's issue of the journal Science and released Thursday.

The study found the increasing death rates in a wide variety of forest types, elevations and tree sizes.