California’s precious trees are receiving a much-needed reprieve from the extreme drought conditions they have been experiencing for several decades. The same atmospheric river storm system that is bringing devastating flooding to communities all over California is providing relief to the state’s forests, according to experts. Data released last week by the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that regions in California and Nevada that were previously in “exceptional drought” status the week before … have been alleviated as a result of the heavy rain walloping the coast. The moisture is likely to stave off a mass die-off of trees in the West, Jim Randerson, a professor at the University of California Irvine said. It is extremely important for the health of forests that water to seep deep into the ground, even into the weathered bedrock, Nate Stephenson, a scientist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Ecological Research Center, told ABC News.