An aerial survey conducted this past summer by the U.S. Forest Service and the Oregon Department of Forestry found more than 1 million acres with dead or dying fir trees in Oregon, the largest amount of fir mortality since the aerial surveys began 75 years ago. News of the tree die-off, which has been called “firmageddon” by some of the survey researchers, was first reported by Columbia Insight. The affected trees were mainly white and Shasta firs, with the bulk of the tree mortality concentrated in the southern part of the state. Danny DePinte is a forest health specialist and aerial survey program manager for the U.S. Forest Service. Christine Buhl is an entomologist with the Oregon Department of Forestry who participated in the survey. They join us to talk about what’s behind the tree die-off and its implications for the state's forest canopy in an era of more intense wildfires and hotter droughts driven by climate change.