Drought-resistant trees are replacing grasslands around the world, and, specifically in the western United States. This is a problem?

Yes, says Brianna Randall in Wired. 

“According to University of Montana researcher Scott Morford, who led the study on rangeland forage loss, tree cover has increased by 50 percent across the western half of the US over the past 30 years, with tree cover expanding steadily year on year. In total, close to 150,000 km² of once tree-free grasslands have been converted into woodland. ‘That means we’ve already lost an area the size of Iowa to trees,’ says Morford, who emphasizes that an additional 200,000 km² of tree-free rangelands—an area larger than the state of Nebraska—are ‘under immediate threat’ because they are close to seed sources.”

You be the judge.

Image of Mesa Verde, Colorado,  is by Mike Goad of Pixabay.

Read the original post on the Environmental Blog.