Koko Panossian is on death watch.

The Glendale senior park services manager gingerly steps around fresh tree stumps, ghosts of 30-year-old coast redwood trees. His eyes meet the brown, scratchy limbs of two towering gentle giants.

“You see these ones here,” he said, pointing skyward. “They are stressed. They are struggling to stay green. They are struggling to survive.”

Bright yellow caution tape tied in a bow around the trunk of another redwood flaps in the breeze, catching his eye.

“That one we will take down. It is dead,” Panossian declared.

The city cut down 15 coast redwood trees from Verdugo Park in the past month. Ten more are on his watch list. But this is not just a problem in Glendale. These colossal columns of nature are dying throughout Southern California, victims of a prolonged drought, unseasonably hot winter temperatures and reduced irrigation from a state-mandated 25 percent water conservation order.

• Video: Redwoods dying in Glendale

In parks, along creek beds and in parkways, coast redwood trees were planted in Southern California for their shade and stunning beauty. Now, many are dying. Though arborists say their decline is a result of them being taken outside the cooler climates of central and northern California, new studies show even in those regions redwoods are showing signs of distress, raising the question: Do California’s coast redwoods — one of the state’s most iconic trees — portend worsening effects of rainfall shortages and climate change?

“They’ve been around for millions of years. But this is a pretty unprecedented event in the last four or five years,” said Ted Dawson, a UC Berkeley professor studying the effects of the drought on the redwoods in their native habitat. “Some of these trees will suffer because of that.”

While Dawson said the trees are not doomed, the redwoods in Big Sur, those near San Simeon, in the hills near the Central Valley and even in Northern California where his research teams have traveled are definitely feeling the effects of the state’s fourth year of drought, he said recently. As are California oak trees, an even more worrisome development because of the species’ drought-tolertant qualities.

“I think we will lose some trees. We will lose redwoods, and we will lose oaks, too. They are being pushed to their extremes,” said Dawson, a Cal professor of integrative biology and environmental science policy and management.

Worse in Southland

There are 30 redwoods at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia. Most are kept alive by smart irrigation techniques and because they were planted among a dense thicket of trees with less direct sunlight, plenty of mulch and on top of an artesian well, experts say.

“We have a couple not doing well and yes, it is because of the drought,” said Richard Schulhof, CEO. “One in particular may have to be taken out.”

Redwoods planted in Southern California are like fish out of water. They need to find moisture or die. In their natural habitat, they get 50-100 inches of rain, including fog, which cools the treetops, explained Los Angeles County arborist Frank McDonough.

The drought has dropped the average annual rainfall in Los Angeles of 15 inches to record low levels: just 6 inches of rain in 2014 and 5.85 inches in 2013. That, plus higher winter temperatures caused by global climate change are stressing nonnative trees such as redwoods, said McDonough and Glendale arborist William R. McKinley.

McDonough noticed the decline of redwood trees during the minidrought of 2002-2003. He said Pierce College in Woodland Hills stopped watering them on a hillside and the trees suffered severely. Other areas where redwoods are turning brown or being stunted include North Granada Hills and Porter Ranch, he said, where redwoods “would grow to a certain height and then would decline.”

In Whittier, residents noticed parkway redwood trees along Camilla Street near Pickering Avenue that looked like they were dying. Some reported dying redwoods at Caltech in Pasadena.

The 108-year-old Rancho Cucamonga Women’s Club’s grove of 60 coastal sequoia trees — a cousin to the coast redwoods — at Red Hill Community Park on Vineyard Avenue is in such bad shape, the club is considering no longer adding to it. Each coast redwood represents a past president.

“They are brown. They are not thriving, not growing,” said Marly Mattson, a board member with the group who is grappling with whether to continue the 23-year tradition.

At Carbon Canyon Regional County Park, on the border with Chino and Chino Hills, parks supervisors are desperately trying to save a grove of 241 coast redwood trees, explained Maureen Beckman, senior park ranger.

Park personnel have worked with tree consultants from UC Irvine and are practicing special irrigation and mulching techniques to see the trees through the drought. Even groundskeepers from Disneyland visited the park to glean tips for caring for its own redwoods kept mostly in large pots in the theme park, she said.

The Carbon Canyon grove was planted in 1975. A 40-year anniversary celebration is planned for Sept. 26. Some of the trees are nearly 100 feet tall. Most have survived. One tree was cut down last year, she said, because it was narrow and sickly.

“We are concerned because we have this drought,” said Beckman, determined to save the grove. “But we can’t let 40 years of trees go bye bye.” She added: “Nobody wants to be the ranger on duty when they die.”

Native vs. imported

Just like suburban grass lawns, redwoods or sequoias in Southern California take too much water to survive a drought.

Though for decades when water was plentiful in Southern California and people have successfully grown redwoods, today’s drought and hotter temperatures are changing the paradigm.

“We are seeing now, what we didn’t see years ago,” McKinley said. “They (coast redwoods) had a little dieback during the heat of summer but always rebounded in winter. Now it is not unusual for 80 to 90 degree temperatures in December and January, so the trees don’t rebound as they would.”

Panossian’s parks contain 80 percent native trees: sycamores, oaks and bay laurel. They can handle reduced watering and hotter temperatures. The dead redwoods are a tough lesson in sustainability.

“Governmental agencies should consider the right trees to be planted, ones that can survive in Mediterranean climates,” Panossian said.

In the San Gabriel Mountains and foothills, lack of rainfall are hurting not just redwoods, said Ann Croissant, a botanist and founder of two conservancies.

“Yes, there are a lot of deaths we are experiencing, even in the drought-tolerant trees,” she said. “It is not just the coast redwoods. Even the eucalyptus trees are in trouble.”

Things may get worse, as the State Water Resources Control Board enforces summer and fall water cutbacks. Less water on street medians, in parks and along parkways will save the state billions of gallons, but may be death knells for ornamental trees in Southern California.

“With all these watering restrictions, you will see a lot of tree deaths and dieback,” McKinley predicted.

Panossian was asked to predict what will happen to the 10 redwood trees on his watch list in Verdugo Park.

“If I were a betting man,” he said, pausing midsentence. He looked up at the shriveling branches and turned away.