Natural History Wanderings

NPR  has an article on Giant Sequoias, the impact of fire on them and how recovery is going. Here a few excerpts:

Recent fires have burned bigger and more intensely than sequoias are accustomed to, a result of the way humans have changed the forest. After the 2020 and 2021 fires, scientists watched the sequoia groves to see if the next generation of trees is emerging to replace their lost parents. In some places, seedlings are filling the forest floor. In others, fewer are emerging from the burned soil.

The smaller numbers of seedlings concerned scientists and the National Park Service. So in a historic step, the agency for the first time has begun replanting some severely burned areas. With a life span of thousands of years, the new seedlings will grow up in a climate that’s rapidly changing. So, park officials are bringing in seedlings from other sequoia groves, ones that may have the genetic tools to handle a more hostile future.

Read full story at: Saving the giant sequoia: Replanting follows wildfires that burned thousands : NPR