Scientists warned Wednesday that wildfires, drought and insect infestation are damaging forests located in the Rocky Mountains in the western United States, to put into perspective the catastrophic effects of global warming.

According to a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, if left to its own devices, climate change, ascertained to be causing these dangerous phenomena on the Rocky mountain forests, could alter the basic foundations of these forests.

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Researchers have discovered that in the American West, there is an ongoing steady rise in temperature of about one degree Celsius since 1895 and the ongoing drought has become even more rampant.

The study is based on data gathered from the US Forest Service, which also projects for the first time that if emissions continue at recent rates, there will be a decline of growth especially among iconic conifers such as the lodgepole and ponderosa pine, up to 80 to 90% by 2060.

The area where the Engelmann spruce can grow and spread will have a significant drop of about 66%, and unfortunately, for the Douglas fir, about 58%, the study said.

According to Jason Funk, co-author of the study and senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, these catastrophic events combined together - heat and drought stress, beetle bark infestations and wildfires - are killing and ravaging trees across widespread areas in the Rocky Mountains.

He added that wildfires, infestations and heat and drought stress are just the symptoms; climate change is the underlying disease that humanity has to face.

The report also says that among the top concerns of forest managers are bark beetle outbreaks that have killed trees on a much bigger scale than previously recorded.

The report adds that beetles have become ravenous; in the past 15 years, the beetles have killed trees on western forest lands that is comparable to the size of Colorado state.

In more unsettling news, wildfires are also becoming more common, increasing by 73% every year from 1984 to 2011.

Even more troubling, scientists have observed that trees die twice as fast than the normal rate for no apparent reason other than increasing extreme heat and dryness.

In a concluding note, Stephen Saunders, co-author and president of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organisation says that if the climate continues changing, it may bring about much more fundamental disruption and destruction of the Glacier Mountain, Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone National Park. 

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