![]() ![]() “The fact that we’ve now created fires that they can’t survive is very heartbreaking.” They speak for all the trees,” Brigham said. “They’re so big and so old and so individual and iconic and quirky that even people who don’t love trees, love them. ![]() Last year’s destruction to the sequoias brought Brigham to tears. Hotter droughts have led to more intense fires that have burned through fuels accumulated through fire suppression. Scientists are still tallying the damage in neighboring Sequoia National Park from a different lightning-sparked fire.Ĭlimate change and a century of policies emphasizing extinguishing wildland blazes rather than letting some burn to prevent bigger future fires are to blame, said Christy Brigham, chief of resource management and science at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. ![]() ![]() Thousands more potentially were lost this year during fires that burned into 27 groves - about a third of all groves.Īn initial assessment released Tuesday by Sequoia National Forest said the Windy Fire killed hundreds of giant sequoias and many more burned trees may not survive. Destruction of the majestic trees hit unprecedented levels last year when 10% to 14% of the estimated 75,000 trees larger than 4 feet (1.2 meters) in diameter burned. In recorded history, large sequoias had never incinerated before 2015. Sequoias even rely on fire to help open their cones to disperse seeds, and flames clear undergrowth so seedlings can take root and get sunlight. Thick bark protects their trunks, and their canopies can be so high they are out of reach of flames. Giant sequoias - and redwoods - are some of the best fire-adapted plants. The coast redwood is more slender and is native near the Pacific Ocean in Northern California. They have a massive trunk and can grow over 300 feet (90 meters) tall. Sequoias grow naturally only in a 260-mile (420 kilometers) belt of foreston the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The giant sequoia is the world’s largest tree by volume and closely related to the redwood, the world’s tallest. The effort led by the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a Michigan nonprofit that preserves the genetics of old-growth trees, is one of many extraordinary measures being taken to save giant sequoias that were once considered nearly fire-proof but are at risk of being wiped out by more intense wildfires. The bright green seedling that barely reached Perry’s knees is part of an unusual project to plant offspring from some of the largest and oldest trees on the planet to see if genes that allowed the parent to survive so long will protect new growth from the perils of climate change. “It’s really cool knowing it could be a big tree in like a thousand years,” she said. The 13-year-old with a broad smile and a braid running to her waist had a higher purpose that - if successful - she’ll never live to see: to plant a baby sequoia that could grow into a giant and live for millennia. (AP) - Ashtyn Perry was barely as tall as the shovel she stomped into barren ground where a wildfire last year ravaged the California mountain community of Sequoia Crest and destroyed dozens of its signature behemoth trees. ![]()
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