California’s trees are dying at an alarming rate. Late last week, the U.S. Forest Service said an aerial survey revealed that 36 million additional trees had died while in the grip of persistent drought, bringing the total since 2010 to more than 102 million. Those numbers have startled California officials and scientists while adding urgency to a long-simmering debate over what should be done about it. The tree deaths have been concentrated in the southern and central Sierra Nevada, but experts warn of increasing deaths in forests all the way up to the Oregon border.

President-elect Donald Trump has stated his commitment to helping California’s farmers attain more water, as the Golden State prepares to enter its historic sixth year of a crippling drought, with a federal water policy in place that favors fish over agriculture. However, the authority of California’s state agencies over the allocation of its water supply — which includes the federal Central Valley Project — remains a staggering obstacle the nation’s 45th president must confront. Particularly, as the Sacramento Bee points out, when it comes to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is where the endangered Delta smelt primarily reside.

As California and the entire Colorado River basin enter another record year of drought, we barely seem to be staying ahead of the game.  Despite our best efforts, demand for water in the river basin exceeds supply, with the gap increasing in each subsequent year of drought. With over 40 million people depending on Colorado River water, the importance of the river cannot be overstated. For Latinos in the basin, in particular, diminishing water supplies are both an economic and very personal matter.