American Trees are Moving West

There are a patchwork of other forces which could cause tree populations to shift west, though. Changes in land use, wildfire frequency, and the arrival of pests and blights could be shifting the population. So might the success of conservation efforts. But Fei and his colleagues argue that at least 20 percent of the change in population area is driven by changes in precipitation, which are heavily influenced by human-caused climate change.

I'd say construction plays a significant role, and while the "average" temperature may be going up due to global warming, some places may actually get cooler or wetter due to shifting weather patterns.

It's been some years ago that I read an article that said that the same combination of climate change effects (rising average temperatures, associated changing and intensified local weather patterns, increasing yearly available cycle for insect pests) is causing forests, and tree crops, in California to "move north".

The same set of phenomena are creating new "habitat" for other pest-delivered diseases, while at the same time "destroying" habitat niches of animals and plants which have adapted to the existing climate zone in an area.

It's a changing world, and we are one of the "prime movers" of it.

Plant migration has always been changing, that doesn't mean humans could have anything to do with it. 

In that case, shouldn't they be moving east? And a bit south...I'm pretty sure the seat of evil isn't in the west.

I think Vegas is as much a modern Babylon as anyplace.

And that's about as political as we should get. I apologize for starting the conversation in that direction. Some things just say themselves