A 'formidable challenge'
Can we end the blame game?
Volume 1, Number 1 - Monday, Aug. 8, 2022
Perspective
IN THE EARLY1980s I lived in Cambria, a small town on California’s Central Coast. I worked at the newspaper there. One day a friend came into the office to ask that we do an article about all of the oak trees being allowed to die in Paso Robles.
For those who don’t know, Paso Robles is located about 30 miles inland from the coast. Its first name was El Paso de Robles (the pass of the oaks). Oak trees, you might imagine, are pretty important there.
My friend was concerned about the great number of very large dead oak trees she had seen on a recent visit over the hills east of Cambria to Paso Robles. She was horrified that all the big oak trees had died.
In discussion with her, I learned two things: She lived in a coastal area of Los Angeles before moving to the Central Coast and she had never before visited Paso Robles during the winter.
Most oaks growing in California’s coastal zone are evergreen live oaks. The huge oak trees my friend saw in Paso Robles were valley oaks. They drop their leaves in the winter.
The trees weren't dead, I told her. They were taking a winter break.
I tell this story because people generally interpret what they see based upon what they know. If you’ve never seen a valley oak come to life in the spring with bright green leaves, you certainly might think it’s dead.
It is very easy for us to have an emotional reaction to things we see but don’t necessarily understand.
This is important to remember when we consider giant sequoias because most giant sequoias trees aren’t the long-lived monarch specimens we see in parks and forests. Most are part of thousands of acres of forested lands of the Sierra Nevada in areas seldom visited by people. They are part of a complex ecosystem that most of us don’t understand or appreciate. Fire is part of that ecosystem, like it or not.
But the giant sequoia in many ways has become a symbol of these lands. And one way or another, nearly everyone who lives in California is impacted by what happens in the Sierra Nevada.
Giant sequoias are magnificent and many people have become concerned about the startling loss of these trees to wildfire over the past few years.
Not only giant sequoias, but other trees and habitat have been lost to California wildfires. Human lives and homes, even whole communities have been wiped out.
I was able to tell my friend that the oak trees weren’t dying because I had seen valley oaks through the seasons many times. I knew their fresh green leaves would emerge in the spring.
I wish I could offer more comfort about how we Californians can cope with wildfire. A study published last November in the journal Science Advances, suggests that the Sierra Nevada will continue to have more and larger wildfires, largely due to hotter and drier summers. Wildfire simulations prepared for the state’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment indicate “the greatest increases in burned area are projected to be in forested areas, with annual average area burned in many parts of the Sierra Nevada doubling to quadrupling by end of century (comparing 2070-2099 to 1961-1990) under the most extreme warming.”
If these scientists are correct, the places we value, the air we breathe and much more will be impacted.
We are facing, as the authors of the study wrote, “a formidable challenge.”
I have to believe we must do a better job of facing that challenge if we can find a way to end the blame game and get on the same page about forest management.
Some people blame the timber industry, politicians and the Forest Service for the state of our forests. Others blame environmentalists, politicians and the Forest Service for the state of our forests.
I think the blame game needs to end.
— Claudia Elliott
The week in wildfires
There are many online sources for information about wildfires while they are active. WildfireToday.com is among the best of unofficial wildfire information sources.
Most California wildfires this past week were in the north part of the state. Sierra Nevada fires included:
The Oak Fire in Mariposa County started July 22. According to Cal Fire, it was 94% contained at 19,244 acres as of Aug. 7. The cause remained under investigation. At least 127 homes were destroyed by the fire. Read an account of the loss from the Mariposa Gazette.
The Marmot Fire in Tulare County started on Aug. 2 and was 100% contained at 127 acres by Aug. 6. The cause is under investigation by Cal Fire’s Tulare Unit which identified the location as South Fork Drive and Cinnamon Canyon Road southeast of Three Rivers. Evacuation warnings were in place for a time.
The photo above of a black bear next to the Grizzly Giant tree on Aug. 3 was taken by Scott Gediman (NPS).
Giant sequoias in the news
• As reported by the Western Divide Ranger District of Giant Sequoia National Forest on July 22, three fires in giant sequoia trees were recently discovered still smoldering in the areas of the 2020 Castle and 2021 Windy Fires.
• Giant sequoias were mentioned in this Aug. 1 article in the New York Times entitled “Why does the American West have so many wildfires?” Climate and landscape, climate change, fire suppression and and human settlement were noted as the four culprits.
• This opinion piece was published on The Wildlife News website Aug. 4, challenging the New York Times article of Aug. 1.
• As reported in the Fresno Bee, the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias in Yosemite National Park reopened Aug. 3 after being closed because of the Washburn Fire.
• Sierra, the magazine of the Sierra Club, published this article on Aug. 2 about the Save Our Sequoias Act and related topics.
• Dueling opinions from San Diego — The San Diego Union Tribune published two opinion pieces about giant sequoias on Aug. 4. Reading both of these will provide you with a good overview of the range of opinion about the Save Our Sequoias Act that was introduced in Congress on June 23.
First, I’ll share the headlines:
Opinion: Here’s how the Save Our Sequoias Act will help California’s beloved trees
Opinion: Here’s how the Save Our Sequoias Act will hurt California’s beloved trees
I’m not sure if you can read these pieces if you’re not a subscriber. But I took advantage of a discounted $4 for 4 months offer so I could read them both and I encourage you to do the same.
The opinion in favor of the SOS Act was authored by Scott Peters, a Democrat who represents California’s 52nd Congressional District which includes San Diego. He is a former environmental attorney.
The opinion against the SOS Act was written by Lisa Ross, a writer and chair of the Sierra Club’s San Diego Chapter.
Here is part of what Ross wrote:
“Shepherded by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, not known for possessing even a green baby finger, and strangely co-authored by Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, the proposed precedent-setting legislation euphemistically called the Save Our Sequoias Act (H.R. 8168) would create a hole in National Environmental Policy Act regulations big enough for a logging truck to drive through.
“The widespread opposition to the bill among environmental groups, with 80 signatories to an opposition letter sent to Congress, is evidence that Sierra Club forestry experts were not consulted in crafting the bill.
“In fact, the legislation caught all of us at the Sierra Club San Diego Chapter by surprise last month when it surfaced in the news media.”
She was correct that Peters teamed up with McCarthy and others to introduce the legislation that hasn’t even made it out of committee yet, but has stirred up a great deal of controversy.
Here’s part of what Peters wrote:
“It used to be that natural, lower intensity fires would clear the dead shrubs and trees that grow in and around sequoias and helped sequoia seeds to regenerate. However, for most of the 20th century, federal land managers erroneously suppressed these smaller fires due to fear of losing timber and threatening communities.
“As a result, smaller trees that natural fires would have cleared have grown near the giant sequoias, tall enough to carry fire into the sequoia canopies. Fires that reach the canopies, which don’t have the same fire resistance as their impenetrable trunks, kill the trees. Climate-change-fueled record temperatures and extreme drought have further exacerbated the problem. Now, high-severity fires can destroy entire sequoia groves, leaving nothing behind to regenerate.
“Scientists state we have a ‘narrowing window of opportunity’ to protect the giant sequoias, as one study in the journal Elsevier noted this year. Fortunately, we know what must be done: active removal of the hazardous fuel that’s causing these trees to burn. To do this, Congress must provide federal land managers with the money and authority to act quickly.”
Both Peters and Ross wrote a lot more and I think it’s great that the Union-Tribune published both of these pieces. It’s a long way from the Sierra Nevada to San Diego, but the fact that a Democratic Congressman and a Sierra Club member from the Southern California community both are engaged with this issue shows its importance to all Californians.
Want more?
GIANTSEQUOIANEWS.COM is also a website where you can find more information about giant sequoia trees, wildfire, the public land management conundrum and more.
Thanks for reading!