When fires rage in California’s mountains, the systems that store and clean water, feed streams and rivers, support fish and other wildlife and literally hold the hillsides together burns up.

Forests are watersheds, a critical component of California’s water supply.

• Trees hold water in their limbs, roots and soil and draw it into underground aquifers, a source of drinking water.
• Meadows on lower slopes filter and clean water.
• Tree loss after fires fosters soil erosion; the runoff clogs waterways.
• Unstable hills can threaten public safety with landslides and mudslides.