A record high number of dead trees are found as Oregon copes with an extreme drought

Tree health specialists scan forests, looking for fir trees that have turned red, which indicates that they are dead. (The U.S. Forest Service)

Flying over Oregon's woodlands, tree health specialist Danny DePinte was stunned by what he saw: a stretch of dead fir that seemed to go on and on.

"As we continued to fly along, it just kept going. It didn't stop for miles and miles," DePinte, who conducts research in the Pacific Northwest region for the U.S. Forest Service, told NPR.