Natural History Wanderings

from the US National Park Service

Giant sequoias have coexisted with fire for thousands of years. Their thick, spongy bark insulates most trees from heat injury, and the branches of large sequoias grow high enough to avoid the flames of most fires. Also, fire’s heat releases large numbers of seeds from cones, and seedlings take root in the open, sunny patches where fire clears away fuels and kills smaller trees. But starting in 2015, higher-severity fires have killed large giant sequoias (those 4 feet or greater in diameter, or >1.2 m) in much greater numbers than has ever been recorded. We have reached a tipping point — lack of frequent fire for the past century in most groves, combined with the impacts of a warming climate — have made some wildfires much more deadly for sequoias.

Read more at  Wildfires Kill Unprecedented Numbers of Large Sequoia Trees (U.S. National Park Service)