Forests give us shade, quiet and one of the harder challenges in the fight against climate change. Even as we humans count on forests to soak up a good share of the carbon dioxide we produce, we are threatening their ability to do so. The climate change we are hastening could one day leave us with forests that emit more carbon than they absorb.

    Thankfully, there is a way out of this trap—but it involves striking a subtle balance. Helping forests flourish as valuable “carbon sinks” long into the future may require reducing their capacity to absorb carbon now. California is leading the way, as it does on so many climate efforts, in figuring out the details.

    The state’s proposed Forest Carbon Plan aims to double efforts to thin out young trees and clear brush in parts of the forest. This temporarily lowers carbon-carrying capacity. But the remaining trees draw a greater share of the available moisture, so they grow and thrive, restoring the forest’s capacity to pull carbon from the air. Healthy trees are also better able to fend off insects. The landscape is rendered less easily burnable. Even in the event of a fire, fewer trees are consumed.

    The need for such planning is increasingly urgent. Already, since 2010, drought and insects have killed over 100 million trees in California, most of them in 2016 alone, and wildfires have burned hundreds of thousands of acres.

    California plans to treat 35,000 acres of forest a year by 2020, and 60,000 by 2030—financed from the proceeds of the state’s emissions-permit auctions, That’s only a small share of the total acreage that could benefit, about half a million acres in all, so it will be vital to prioritize areas at greatest risk of fire or drought.

    The strategy also aims to ensure that carbon in woody material removed from the forests is locked away in the form of solid lumber or burned as biofuel in vehicles that would otherwise run on fossil fuels. New research on transportation biofuels is already under way.

    State governments are well accustomed to managing forests, but traditionally they’ve focused on wildlife, watersheds and opportunities for recreation. Only recently have they come to see the vital part forests will have to play in storing carbon. California’s plan, which is expected to be finalized by the governor next year, should serve as a model.

答案精析：根据题干中Forest Carbon Plan可定位至第三段第一句。题干中的endeavors to对应第三段首句中的double efforts to。定位句中的thin out young trees and clear brush in parts of the forest（使森林里部分小树变稀疏，清理部分灌木）与B中的“reduce the density of some of its forests”（降低森林的密度）一致。因此正确答案为B。

错项排除：文章未提及抗干旱的树木，故排除A项。文章第四段提及Healthy trees are also better able to fend off insects.（健康的树木也能更好地抵御昆虫），但并非森林碳计划致力于寻找更有效的方式杀虫，因此排除C项。文章第四段最后指出Even in the event of a fire, fewer trees are consumed.（即使发生火灾，被烧毁的树木也会减少），D项与此相悖，故排除。