The region around Julian was hit by a multi-year drought starting in 1999, leading up and into the catastrophic Cedar Fire of 2003 following an extremely wet 1997-1998 El Niño cycle. Residents of Julian reported drilling wells up to to strike water during this period, well over twice as deep as they have had to drill in the town's history. This has also been controversially attributed to stressors from the development of weekend and holiday housing in the town by outsiders. Drought conditions were noted to have allowed the rise of beetle pests to consume Coulter pines in and around the community, as the pines do not have access to enough water to protect their trunks with sap. The drought-induced devastation of the Coulter pines due to the beetles has allowed some landowners in the Volcan Mountains to the immediate north of Julian to file exemptions to filling timber-harvest plans. These plans are normally required under the California Environmental Quality Act and effectively allow the state to regulate the logging practices exercised on a parcel of land, raising fears in Julian that overlogging might be technically permissible in light of the Coulter pine disaster.