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Another 27 million trees died in California last year due to the lingering effects of drought, according to new aerial survey data from the U.S. Forest Service. That brings the total number of trees killed statewide to a staggering 129 million since 2010. In a typical year, about one million trees die across California. But beginning in 2014, that number began ticking up as aerial surveyors with the U.S. Forest Service started to notice entire hillsides turning yellow, brown and orange.

Why is California burning? One answer is simple: California always burns. But this latest inferno — three wildfires eating at the hills in and around Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest city — is frightening even for people who are accustomed to big burns. What’s more, it follows the state’s deadliest fire on record by only a few weeks.

Water conservation statewide dipped into single digits during October according to a report issued last week by the State Water Resources Control Board. The water board said on average Californians used 8.5 percent less water than in October 2013, the benchmark pre-drought year. Mandatory water conservation targets and penalties for excessive use were dropped this spring, and the conservation numbers have declined pretty steadily since then.

California’s dam inspectors appear to be doing their jobs well. Unfortunately, too many dam operators aren’t, and could be placing the public at risk. That’s the conclusion we reached after reading a report by The Sacramento Bee’s Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler. As the effects of climate change become more pronounced, we’ll be left with no choice except to invest in flood control and other water-related public works – including better maintaining the levees that keep our rivers in their channels and out of our homes.