Losses of Tree Cover in California Driven by Increasing Fire Disturbance and Climate Stress

Forests provide natural climate solutions for sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change, yet are increasingly threatened by increasing temperature and disturbance. Understanding these threats requires accurate information on vegetation dynamics and their drivers, which is currently lacking in many regions experiencing rapid climate change such as California. To address this, we combined remote sensing observations with geospatial databases to develop annual maps of vegetation cover (tree, shrub, and herbaceous) and disturbance type (fire, harvest, and forest die-off) in California at 30 m resolution from 1985 to 2021. Considering both changes in cover fraction and areal extent, California lost 4,566 km(2) of its tree cover area (6.7% relative to initial cover) since 1985. Substantial gains in tree cover area during the 1990s were more than offset by fire-driven declines since 2000, resulting in greater shrub and herbaceous cover area. Tree cover loss occurred in all ecoregions but was most severe in the southern mountains, where losses from wildfire were not compensated by regrowth in undisturbed areas. Fires and tree cover area loss generally occurred where summer temperatures were greater than 17.5 degrees C, whereas net tree cover gain often occurred in cooler areas, suggesting that ongoing climate warming is threatening forests in many areas. California's vegetation is undergoing rapid transformation, with disturbance rates and climate change posing substantial potential risks to the integrity of California's terrestrial carbon sink.

Automated summary

Forests are important for sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change, but they are increasingly threatened by rising temperatures and disturbances. This study in California reveals a significant loss of tree cover since 1985, mainly driven by wildfires, with gains in shrub and herbaceous cover. The findings suggest that ongoing climate warming is posing a threat to forests in many areas and could potentially impact California's terrestrial carbon sink.