Denise Crowe has studied the forests of Anacortes for nearly three decades and says she's never seen anything quite like what she has seen this summer.
Western red cedars and western hemlocks are dying off in droves.
"And we know this isn't from disease. This is from drought," says Crowe, Outreach Director for the conservation group, Friends of The Forest.
Four straight summers of unusually hot, dry weather are starting to take a toll on Western Washington forests.
Crowe says droughts happen and trees die, but this is not normal.
"What we're seeing is a very clear shift from the norm that has been present here for a very long time."
Clusters of trees, sometimes entire hillsides are dying off because of lack of rain during the spring and summer months. Perhaps even more concerning is that younger trees are dying before they have a chance to grow and replace the older ones.
"We are starting to see real, large-scale change in the Pacific Northwest," says Crowe.
The dying trees have a ripple effect on the rest of the environment, from habitat and food for animals to water quality.
But Amy Ramsey, a forest pathologist with Washington's Department of Natural Resources, says it's unclear exactly how significant the die-off is.
"We're still trying to understand what those impacts are going to be. One of the most important things people can do is contact their legislators and encourage them to provide more funding so we can address these issues."
However, experts warn unless our weather patterns return to normal, dying forests could be the new normal.
