Arizona has lost over 14% of its tree cover since 2000. In 2021, over 500,000 acres had observed bark beetle damage and over 400,000 acres had observed drought damage. The federal government currently manages over 50% of our forests as part of National Forest lands. I believe that Arizona must do a number of things in order to conserve our forests and beautiful natural environment at large:
- Convince the federal government to sell federal lands back to the state with provisions for environmental conservation
- Invest in measures to counter the bark beetle epidemic
- Research if afforestation would help alleviate the problem in select areas
Arizona’s forests are the center of our ecological diversity as a state. We can’t allow our forests to be destroyed and should actively be working to counter the devastating loss of tree cover over the past two-and-a-half decades.
