This summer鈥檚 heat scorched Oregon trees 鈥� maybe worse than ever before 鈥� and scientists are beginning to piece together what that means for the trees鈥� long-term health.
started coming within days of a June heat wave, during which many parts of the state endured consecutive days with temperatures higher than 110 degrees.
Aerial surveys from the U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry and Washington Department of Natural Resources documented tree scorching on about 229,000 acres in Oregon. That鈥檚 likely an undercount, given the method鈥檚 limitations.
鈥淏y some estimates, it鈥檚 probably the largest scorch event in history,鈥� Oregon State University researcher Christopher Still told OPB鈥檚 鈥溾�� on Monday. 鈥淚 mean this is a new thing for us to be seeing on Earth, so it鈥檚 sort of a dubious milestone.鈥�
Researchers like Still, with help from citizen scientists, have spent months documenting the heat wave鈥檚 effects on Oregon鈥檚 trees.
People , which researchers used to help analyze the damage. The images showed deciduous trees with browning, crunchy leaves, and some even looked like they were melting, Still said. Conifer needles turned bright orange and in some cases fell off entirely.
Most of the scorching happened on the south- and west-facing sides of trees, which endured the most intense sunlight. Satellite images were even able to pick up the burnt edges.
Western hemlock and western redcedar suffered the worst damage. Younger trees also fared worse than older ones.
鈥淭here is going to be an impact, I think, going forward, if this young generation had lots and lots of mortality, which we think it did,鈥� Still said. 鈥淭he older trees, they鈥檙e going to be more resilient, but it鈥檚 a little bit hard to know if you lose a bunch of your needles what that does to you.鈥�
Toasted trees were already stressed from the adverse effects of extreme drought, which in recent years . Still said the combination of drought and heat is a 鈥渒nockout punch鈥� for trees.
Those effects are as unchecked burning of fossil fuels drives climate change, which is expected to lead to as well as .
鈥淚f this just keeps going, if these are happening every five or 10 years, it鈥檚 gonna be really grim I think for most of the forests of the Pacific Northwest,鈥� Still said.
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