Claudia - Thank you very much for your article "Giant Sequoia Loss is a National Disgrace". I'm puzzled by the lack of attention to the alarming rate of destruction of the largest Giant Sequoia. I can't remember seeing the fact that we've already lost 20% of these trees even during the last few fire seasons. Can you explain why Journalists, besides yourself, have not spread news of this tragedy?
Hi, Paul, Thanks for reading and subscribing. So, has the news not spread? Well, not as far as I would like. However, to be fair the news has been covered widely. If you google "20 percent of large giant sequoias have been killed," you will pull up pages of links to stories in major media — and smaller outlets. You may also notice that many of them were published in November 2021, just after the National Park Service published this: nps.gov/articles/000/wildfires-kill-unprecedented-numbers-of-large-sequoia-trees.htm.
So, here's how this works in the news world. That article provided a "news hook" and reporters picked up on it and spread the word. Something similar happened when the General Sherman Tree was wrapped in a fire-resistant blanket.
There are fewer news reporters every day and they are looking for news, as in the "latest," to pass on to readers/viewers. News has a very short life in part because the public has a very short attention span.
I'm headed tonight to Northern California to be at an event that is likely to trigger a new wave or articles and news reports — an update on the status of the "Save Our Sequoias" effort by giant sequoia land managers. Especially because they've decided to livestream this, expect a bunch of reports.
But events such as this — or releases such as the one the NPS put out in November 2021 — aren't necessary for a reporter to come up with a story. There are hundreds of stories — but too few reporters (in my opinion). We're all doing our best.
And with my weekly newsletter, which I hope to expand upon, I'm doing my part.
Sorry for the long-winded answer. Hope this helps. Thanks for reading!
Claudia - Thank you very much for your article "Giant Sequoia Loss is a National Disgrace". I'm puzzled by the lack of attention to the alarming rate of destruction of the largest Giant Sequoia. I can't remember seeing the fact that we've already lost 20% of these trees even during the last few fire seasons. Can you explain why Journalists, besides yourself, have not spread news of this tragedy?
Hi, Paul, Thanks for reading and subscribing. So, has the news not spread? Well, not as far as I would like. However, to be fair the news has been covered widely. If you google "20 percent of large giant sequoias have been killed," you will pull up pages of links to stories in major media — and smaller outlets. You may also notice that many of them were published in November 2021, just after the National Park Service published this: nps.gov/articles/000/wildfires-kill-unprecedented-numbers-of-large-sequoia-trees.htm.
So, here's how this works in the news world. That article provided a "news hook" and reporters picked up on it and spread the word. Something similar happened when the General Sherman Tree was wrapped in a fire-resistant blanket.
There are fewer news reporters every day and they are looking for news, as in the "latest," to pass on to readers/viewers. News has a very short life in part because the public has a very short attention span.
I'm headed tonight to Northern California to be at an event that is likely to trigger a new wave or articles and news reports — an update on the status of the "Save Our Sequoias" effort by giant sequoia land managers. Especially because they've decided to livestream this, expect a bunch of reports.
But events such as this — or releases such as the one the NPS put out in November 2021 — aren't necessary for a reporter to come up with a story. There are hundreds of stories — but too few reporters (in my opinion). We're all doing our best.
And with my weekly newsletter, which I hope to expand upon, I'm doing my part.
Sorry for the long-winded answer. Hope this helps. Thanks for reading!