[ California ] Global warming not only threatens to increase the number of fires, scientists and top state officials said Thursday. It will further damage the state’s most efficient weapon against the climate phenomenon: trees, they said. With projections by the California Climate Action Team that temperatures could jump by 10 degrees by the end of the century, large fires could become 55 percent more frequent statewide, the team said in a report. “It’s scary, and we’re already seeing an increase in fires,” said John Hawkins, Riverside County ‘s new fire chief. Forests in California and the rest of the West accumulate 20 to 40 percent of the atmosphere’s carbon from the region, said Westerling, who helped write California ‘s climate change report. With an increase in the number of fires, however, fewer trees will be left to absorb the greenhouse gas, leaving more harmful carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, he said.

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
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