Months after Trump denies California drought, 102 million trees die from lack of water

'This impacts everyone in California.'

California residents have been caught in a five-year drought, which has deeply impacted the nation's largest production of fruits, vegetables and nuts.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - During a rally in Fresno, president-elect Donald Trump claimed, "There is no drought."

Bakersfield attorney Emilio Huerta replied: "There is very much a drought in California, and it's been going on for approximately five years. It doesn't look like there's an end in sight."

According to NBC, federal surveyors discovered over 102 million dead trees across California - the result of the drought and global warming, which triggered a dramatic rise in bark beetle infestation.

In a joint statement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service, 62 million trees have perished within 2016 so far, a 100 percent increase since 2015.

U.S. Forest Service Tree Mortality specialist Stephanie Gomes spoke Friday to say: "This is sad for the state. Forests provide water, electricity and cleaner air for everyone in the state.

"This impacts everyone in California."

In fact, in October 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency and formed the Tree Mortality Task Force, which vows to "coordinate emergency protective actions, and monitor ongoing conditions to address the vast tree mortality resulting from four years of unprecedented drought and the resulting bark beetle infestation across large regions of the state."

The deforestation of California has gotten so bad, USDA spokesman MIke Illenberg spoke Friday from Washington D.C. to share the agency wants to reclassify large wildfires as natural disasters, allowing firefighters to draw from an emergency fund of federal money to help fight flames with "restoration" money.

"Instead of treating catastrophic wildfires as a normal agency expense, we must treat them more like other natural disasters, such as tornadoes or hurricanes," Illenberg stated.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Forest Service officials believe the funds will help put an end to the record-setting wildfires in California, which scorched over 30,000 acres this year and forced 80,000 people to evacuate their homes.

Vilsack released the statement: These dead and dying trees continue to elevate the risk of wildfire, complicate our efforts to respond safely and effectively to fires when they do occur, and pose a host of threats to life and property across California.

"We can't break this cycle of diverting funds away from restoration work to fight the immediate threat of the large unpredictable fires caused by the fuel buildups themselves."

Vilsack explained fiscal year 2016 has already seen $43 million in Forest Service funds being reprioritized, leaving more money to fighting fires than there is money to help restoration.

Illenberg estimates by 2025, the cost of fire suppression will reach nearly $1.8 billion and if no efforts are made, the Forest Service will have no choice but to take an additional $700 million over the next decade for other programs to help fund efforts.

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