The state of California's drought is worsening that it continues to dry up lakes and has become deadly to the state's trees.

As reported by Fox News, the drought caused land to subside and forced the state to enact strict water rules, in relation to a new study that says years of little or no rain is taking its toll on the forests.

Researchers at Stanford University's Carnegie Institution for Science concluded that up to 58 million large trees in California experienced significant water loss, which was life threatening to the trees since 2011 due to the state's historic drought.

With the added high temperature and insect outbreaks, including the destructive bark beetle, the drought is increasing the risk of the trees dying that would usher in widespread changes in these ecosystems.

Gregory Asner, Carnegie's lead author on the study said, "California relies on its forests for water provisioning and carbon storage, as well as timber products, tourism, and recreation, so they are tremendously important ecologically, economically, and culturally."

He also added that, "The drought put the forests in tremendous peril, a situation that may cause long-term changes in ecosystems that could impact animal habitats and biodiversity."

The researchers also added that the risk to California's trees remains high, despite the heavy precipitation predicted this winter due to El Nino.

As reported by the Sacramento Bee, the results of the study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which are not the first warnings regarding the state of California trees.

A U.S. Forest Service survey held last spring showed that an estimated 12 million trees died due to a mix of drought and an infestation of insects.

Also, Governor Jerry Brown cited increased wildfire dangers and declared a state of emergency regarding the trees back in October. The declaration called on state and local agencies to ramp up efforts to remove dead or dying trees.

However, in a report from the Los Angeles Times, after years of drought, it has now beginning to snow on the state of California.

A series of storms had brought the snow level above average for this month and there was more snow compared to the past two years.

Despite the snowing and relative cold weather, the trees in the state remain endangered.

Thus, the state now will consider managing these endangered forests much differently. Asner added that there are many issues with losing the forests and said that it's not about biodiversity, but water services, carbon sequestration and fire flammability.

Finally, although drought can't be stopped, the measurements taken by the researchers will help how these forests can be managed.