By Brian Melley -
The Associated Press
Wildfires sparked by lightning strikes in the past 2 years have killed more than 10,000 giant sequoias in California, a tragic number that once again highlights the effects of the climate emergency, authorities said Friday.
Fires this year in Sequoia National Park and nearby Sequoia National Forest wiped out more than a third of California's groves and burned between 2,261 and 3,637 of the world's largest tree.
A giant sequoia is consumed by flames during the Windy Fire on Sept. 19, 2021, in Sequoia National Park, California.Noah Berger / AP
In 2020, between 7,500 and 10,400 giant redwoods engulfed by flames perished.
That means that
between 13% and 19% of the 75,000 redwoods
over 1.2 meters in diameter
have been lost
.
We have witnessed another huge loss within a finite population of these iconic trees. "
Clay Jordan expert
Although it was thought that these trees were fireproof, the intense flames that have burned in recent times - both in temperature and height - have proven to be lethal for this type of vegetation and have once again highlighted the consequences of the emergency climatic.
Global warming, which has caused more serious droughts, and the covering of forests with thick undergrowth have fueled fires, which
have created conditions that endanger trees that come from ancient civilizations
.
"The reality is that we have witnessed another huge loss within a finite population of these iconic trees, which are irreplaceable in many lifetimes," said Clay Jordan, superintendent of the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
"As spectacular as they are, we cannot take them for granted. To ensure that they continue to exist with our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, action is necessary," he claimed.
[California authorities will remove more than 10,000 trees affected by fires]
California has suffered in the last 5 years
the worst fires in its history
.
2020 broke the record for burned area, followed (for now) by 2021.
Tree deaths this year could have been worse if heavy rains and snowfall on October 25 had not dampened the fire.
Last year, the fires burned from August through this January.
After the Castle and SQF Complex fires last year caught authorities by surprise, this year
extraordinary measures
were taken
to save the largest and oldest trees.
The General Sherman tree - the largest living thing on earth - and other ancient specimens that appear in photos although their greatness is rarely reflected in them were wrapped in aluminum foil blankets as a protection measure.
Giant trees over 3,000 years old are under threat from California fires
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20, 202101: 18
Likewise, a fire retardant gel, similar to the absorbent used in baby diapers, was spread over the cups that exceed 60 meters in height, the sprinklers watered the trunks and the flammable matter was raked from the trees.
The measures
helped save the Forest of the Giants
, the main grove of massifs in the park, but could not be applied everywhere.
Most of the Suwanee grove burned in extreme fire, while the Starvation grove in the Sequoia National Forest was largely destroyed.
The greatest damage occurred in the grove of Redwood Mountain in Kings Canyon National Park.
An inferno of such caliber was generated that it
created a cloud of fire that lashed out at 60 mph
(97 km / h) winds.
["Everything is gone": speak those affected in California by the monstrous Dixie fire]
A fire ecologist accurately predicted the areas that would burn the hottest, but nothing could be done in such erratic conditions to save the trees in the second-largest grove, said Christy Brigham, park science and resource management chief.
"It
's even more heartbreaking to me that we knew about it and couldn't take steps to protect it
," Brigham said.
The most damaged forests look like wooden graveyards with blackened trunks rising to the sky.
The glasses have gone from a vibrant green to a rusty hue.
Many of the damaged trees are expected to perish within 3-5 years.
The Save the Redwoods League, which lost the Waterfall tree - one of the largest in the world - in 2020, has suffered losses this year on its Red Hill Grove redwood trail.
"We have to call this giant sequoia situation what it is: an emergency," said league president Sam Hodder.
"Just a few years ago it was considered unheard of to lose a handful of giant redwoods to a wildfire in one season, but now we are losing thousands," he stressed.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park Fire Service Deputy Fire Director Leif Mathiesen looks at a partially charred specimen, Nov. 19, 2021. Gary Kazanjian / AP
In 2013, the park ran a climate model that predicted extreme fires wouldn't endanger redwoods for 50 years, Brigham said.
But that was at the beginning of what turned into a terrible 5-year drought that basically smashed projections.
We have to call this giant sequoia situation what it is: an emergency. "
Sam Hodder of the Save the Redwoods League
In the midst of the 2015 drought, the park saw the giant redwoods burn for the first time.
In 2017, two fires burned just over 200 trees, a warning of what was to come.
"Then the Castle fire happened and it was like, 'Oh my gosh,'" Brigham acknowledged.
"We went from the warning sign to the creeps.
Losing 7,000 trees in a single fire is insane,
" he lamented.
There is no exact count on the mortality of giant sequoias last year because teams were running that count when lightning struck Sept. 9, starting the Windy Fire in Sequoia National Park.
Those two fires merged and became the SQF Complex in the park, Brigham recalled.
Not all of the news from the park report on the fires was bad.
Although the flames burned 27 groves and a large number of trees were burned, the low intensity fire that redwoods need to thrive clears vegetation and the heat from the flames opens the cones so they can spread their seeds.
There was also less damage to many of the groves where the park has routinely used prescribed fire to clear accumulated vegetation in cooler, wetter conditions.
Those milestones highlighted the
need to scale up that work
, Jordan said.
Tips to live in harmony with the environment and reverse the damage of climate change
April 23, 202 106: 20
However, areas where the fire burned so brightly that the seeds have died and the trees are unable to regenerate may need additional help.
For the first time, the park is considering planting seedlings to preserve the species.
"I am not willing to give up the giant sequoias," Brigham clarified.
"This is a call to action to better protect the old growth that remains
and make our Sierra Nevada forests resistant to wildfires, because fire is about, "he said.
However, although seedlings are planted, it will take hundreds of years to replace the trees that were lost.