New study: Sierra Nevada Forests Shifting to Higher Elevations as Temperatures Warm

In another sign of the warming climate, key species of trees in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range — including lodge pole pine, red fir and western white pine — are shifting to higher elevations in search of cooler temperatures, a broad new study by state biologists has found.

From south of Lake Tahoe to the northern Sierra, the areas where the trees are growing has moved on average nearly 500 feet higher over the past 80 years, as new saplings are taking root farther up mountainsides, according to researchers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.