About the giant sequoia trees burned in recent wildfires

At least one man isn't sure they're really dead

Volume 1, Number 4 - Monday, Aug. 29, 2022

A standing, limbless and blackened giant sequoia tree in the Black Mountain Grove near Camp Nelson, California. — Claudia Elliott, Aug. 27, 2022

Perspective

YEARS AGO, I traveled a lot for work. Spending long hours in my car, I listened to talk radio shows of all sorts. One host I remember from those days was a fellow named Dennis Prager.

I only remember one thing about Prager that matters to me — he often expressed a preference for clarity over agreement. And that’s where I am right now with issues relating to giant sequoias.

I’ve only been back to covering these issues about six weeks, and already, it’s clear that not a lot has changed in the dozen years my focus has been elsewhere. There still is not much agreement about the issues.

On Saturday, my husband and I were in the Black Mountain Grove of giant sequoias near Camp Nelson in the mountains east of Porterville, California. The occasion was a public tour sponsored by the Forest Service. Officials explained — and showed — the work they have been doing there.

As I reported in a newspaper article for The Bakersfield Californian on Aug. 21, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore declared an emergency on June 22. Work is underway to clear what the agency calls a dangerous buildup of vegetation in 12 giant sequoia groves.

Ara Marderosian, executive director of Sequoia ForestKeeper, was among those who attended Saturday’s field trip. I know Ara from my time years ago writing for the now-defunct Southern Sierra Messenger newspaper during the early planning years for Giant Sequoia National Monument.

I wondered what Ara would think of the Forest Service’s work in the groves. 

He told me before the tour, when the field trip was gathering at Pierpoint Springs, that he’s making his 80th trip around the sun. Not only does he have ten years on me, but he’s also far more physically fit. He could keep up with a group hiking up a dirt road on Saturday, but I was out of breath and turned back after the road started another upward climb. We didn’t have much time to talk, but we talked on the phone yesterday.

In future articles, I’ll write more about what Marderosian said about the Forest Service’s project. He seems consistent with his viewpoint about the agency — which is to say that he doesn’t trust its actions, including the latest emergency response.

I’ll share one thing he said regarding giant sequoia mortality during fires in recent years. The Forest Service, National Park Service and others claim wildfires have killed some 20 percent of the largest giant sequoia trees.

Ara is not sure they’re all really dead. Given the known ability of giant sequoias to withstand fire and live long lives, he said he thinks they need to be given more time to see if they start to put on new green growth. He thinks they may recover on their own.

You may agree with Ara — or you may not. If you agree, I suspect his statement seems reasonable. If you disagree, you may think he’s a crackpot. After all, scientists and foresters with the public agencies in charge of managing the lands where these big trees grow say they died by the thousands.

But some people don’t trust these public agencies. My purpose in sharing Marderosian’s thoughts about giant sequoia mortality isn’t to hold his viewpoints up for public ridicule, but to show the range of opinion — even about whether the giant sequoias were actually killed by the high severity wildfires of recent years. I’m striving for clarity.

We may disagree, but I believe we’ll make it farther down this road of life together if we are aware that there are perspectives other than our own. Whichever “side” we’re on.

I’m trying to do fair journalism here. But this is a big subject, and no one article can span the breadth of science and opinion about giant sequoias, the land where they grow or the world today. Not even close. 

But if you stick with reading this newsletter, I will do my best to ensure clarity. We may disagree, but at least we should be able to understand other viewpoints.

A few tiny seeds managed to survive all of the natural changes California’s Sierra Nevada has seen over the past several thousand years to become the monarch giant sequoia trees that take our breath away. Given that improbability, I think people can try to understand each other.

(I do have to add this: I’m not a biologist or botanist, but the giant sequoia in the photo above looks pretty dead to me).

The week in wildfires

The Forest Service is busy with Burned Area Emergency Responses for the Oak and Washburn fires near Yosemite earlier this summer. BAER provides important information the agency will use to manage the land post-fire. You can read what they’re finding about the Oak Fire here and the Washburn fire here. There are great photos with the Oak Fire report and good maps and information with both.

In Yosemite National Park the Red and Rodgers fires are being managed together and were at 1,844 acres and 1,371 acres, respectively, on Monday morning. Both fires were started by lightning and are being managed for confinement, not containment. Wildfire Today has an article about the Red Fire.

Here’s how officials explained this concept for these fires:

What does success on a wildfire for multiple objectives look like within our park? Success can be measured by confining certain areas of the fire and meeting objectives set forth in the fire management plan:

• Maximizing forest health by reducing fuels and overgrowth, improving habitats for wildlife, and reducing the risk of future catastrophic fire.

• Utilizing confine and contain strategies by tying in natural barriers like natural water systems, granite outcrops, and trail systems with minimal hand line.

• Taking into account the smoke impacts to nearby communities and populations

• Allowing for fire to play a natural role in wilderness.

For both fires the NPS reports ten percent completion, meaning that crews have been ten percent successful in achieving these objectives. And yes, they also report a lot of smoke in the Yosemite Valley.

New! Giant sequoias around the world

When people say giant sequoias only grow in certain areas of California’s Sierra Nevada, they are either misinformed or they mean that region is the current natural range of these trees.

Sequoiadendrom giganteum trees grow in many places around the world. In this new section I’ll highlight one each week. I think you will be amazed!

The Pine Valley Giant Sequoia, Utah

The St. George News, in St. George, Utah, this week reported about a Forest Service guard station on Dixie National Forest that is being rehabilitated by volunteers. It’s a great story with wonderful photos.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the guard station in 1934. It’s in a 179-acre area called the Mill Creek Browse Experimental Range, established in 1921. Growing there, among the native Ponderosa pine, Gambel oak, Bigtooth maple, Douglas fire and mountain mahogany is a single giant sequoia tree.

There are local legends about the tree but most believe that it was planted by Dr. Walter Cottam, a botany professor at the University of Utah, around 1933. The tree is known as the Pine Valley Giant Sequoia. Estimates of its size range from 108 feet to 140 feet tall and 11.25 feet in circumference.

The Pine Valley Giant Sequoia is among many trees Cottam planted, but the only giant sequoia to survive on the Mill Creek Browse Experimental Range. Another giant sequoia he planted on the University of Utah campus is a story for another day.

Giant sequoias in the news

I continue to be amazed by the amount of ink — digital or actual — that giant sequoias get, not just in California but around the world.

Here are some stories I think you might like:

• Giant sequoia seeds heading to the moon - The journal Astrobiology reports that giant sequoia seeds will be part of the payload for NASA’s Artemis I trip to the moon. Apollo 14, in 1971, carried tree seeds to the moon and the Forest Service grew them when they returned. You can read the story of those trees here. Many of the same type of tree seeds will be on the Artemis I trip, but giant sequoia has replaced the coastal redwood this time.

• Emergency work begins in Nelder Grove - The Sierra Sun reports that hazardous fuels reduction in the Nelder Grove has begun. This grove, in Sierra National Forest, is the 12th grove covered by Forest Service Chief Randy Moore's July 22 emergency proclamation. The other 11 groves are in Sequoia National Forest.

• Can we move those big trees? - Ethan Freedman, climate reporter for The Independent, looks at the benefits — and risks — of relocating plants and animals to new homes. It may sound silly, but this story is worth a read (you’ll have to register with The Independent, but can read for free). 

• Another story about the Forest Service’s giant sequoia emergency - I met Lauren Jennings, a reporter for the Visalia Times-Delta, on a media trip to learn about the Forest Service’s emergency action a few weeks ago. Her story is here.  The Times-Delta is published by Gannett, also publisher of USA Today and the company recently announced even more cuts to its reporting staff, making it even more difficult for reporters like Lauren to have time to write stories like this. If you don’t visit the website often, you can probably read her story for free. But even though I’m dismayed by Gannett’s cuts, I encourage you to consider one of the digital subscription offers to help support reporters’ work.

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!