Interactive comment on “Water limitations on forest carbon cycling and conifer traits along a steep climatic gradient in the Cascade Mountains, Oregon” by L. T. Berner and B. E. Law

This manuscript describes a spatial (multiple sites across a precipitation gradient) and temporal (tree rings) analysis of how forest structure and function (morphology, chemistry, growth) relate to climate stress in the eastern Cascades, Oregon, USA. This is an interesting topic with clear relevance for a broad range of scientists, managers, and policymakers. The ms is extremely well written, with appropriate references, and generally clear. On the one hand, the larger lessons from this study are unsurprising and have been known a long time: water availability is a strong control on forest structure