Giant Sequoias Greatly Endangered By Forest Management, Climate Change And Current Fire

The famed General Sherman sequoia, probably
2,500 years old, wrapped in aluminum foil
in an attempt to save it from an oncoming
wildfire this week. Photo from National
Park Service.

It comes down to this now, apparently.

We're killing living things that are thousands of years old through climate change. Wildfires are closing in on California's giant sequoias as I write this. 

As the BBC reports:

"Officials fear the fire could reach the Giant Forest, a grove of some of the world's biggest trees, within hours. 

The forest hosts some 2,000 sequoias, including the 275-foot General Sherman, the biggest tree by volume on Earth and about 2,500 years old."

In desperation, crews have wrapped the base of the General Sherman and other giant sequoias in aluminum foil in a last ditch attempt to save them. 

Sequoias are actually pretty fire resistant.  Over the centuries, many wildfires have burned through sequoia groves. 

But those fires burned along the ground, perhaps scorching the lower trunks of these trees but leaving the mid and upper parts of the trees green.  Sequoias usually lack lower branches that can catch fire and then spread flames upward through the tree.

All this leaves sequoias pretty much intact in a wildfire.  

What's new is the and aggressive wildfires that have roared across California in recent years. These fires are so intense that an entire sequoia can go up in flames as flames shoot ridiculously skyward. Those flames burn entire sequoias, destroying them.

A combination of poor forest management that allowed dense, flammable undergrowth to flourish, and climate change, threatens the existence of sequoias.

Since sequoias have a storied relationship with Americans, that would be yet another big climate change tragedy on top of many others.

Last year, an intense wildfire killed more than 10,000 sequoias, representing nearly 14 percent of the world's population of these trees, noted NPR in a report aired this morning. The dead sequoias are now black, tragic, immense dead poles sticking high up into the air. 

With the new fire looming today, all we can do is hope that firefighters can keep the most destructive flames at bay and save the sequoias, including the beloved General Sherman.