Why Are California’s Trees Dying?

California’s iconic mountain forests are in serious trouble, according to a series of recent studies. The latest — an aerial survey of the state’s most forested regions — shows that a combination of drought and insect damage wiped out a startling 36 million trees between 2021 and 2022. “These last three years have been the hardest, driest three years on record in California,” said Jeffrey Moore, a forester with the U.S. Forest Service and the lead researcher on the survey, which was conducted from July to October.

tips

iconic：标志性的（icon 图标）

wipe：擦拭，用力打，涂上

wipe out：消灭，扫除

aerial：空中（aer- 空中）

combination：联合，组合

insect：昆虫

conduct：行为，举动；vt. 实施，管理，指导（conductibility：传导性；conductible：可传导的）