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The total number of dead trees in California’s forests has climbed to 102 million.  Approximately 36 million of those deaths have come since the US Forestry Service last surveyed the forests in May. And the number of dead trees in the Golden State doubled over the past year. The tree deaths are changing the California landscape, particularly at lower elevations. They’re also raising questions about the best ways to protect people from falling trees or wildfires while preserving forests.

More than a year ago, Fresno County farmer Wayne Western Jr. penned a letter to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, pleading for help. Western said the federal government was mismanaging California’s water supply with unjustified environmental restrictions, and that San Joaquin Valley farms such as his might dry up and go out of business without assistance from Washington. Trump replied with a handwritten note of his own, a pledge: “Got it – crazy. If I win, it will be corrected quickly.”