Beetles Bring Devastation And Extreme Fire Danger to Southern California Forests

LAKE ARROWHEAD, CA - JULY 24: A sawyer tosses a section of trunk as he cuts down a dead pine between houses with yards filled with the remains of beetle-killed trees on July 24, 2003 near Lake Arrowhead, California. Southern California's native pines are being wiped-out by exploding populations of several species of bark beetles, a result of four years of the worst recorded drought since records began in 1849. Infected forests are expected to lose at least 75-95 percent of their trees creating unprecedented wildfire danger in the "ghost forests" of dead trees. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)