Good news about ‘The Orphans’
Report says ‘extremely unlikely’ the trees died
Volume 2, Number 19 - Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023
Published twice a week, on Monday and Thursday
Perspective
YOU MAY RECALL news reports earlier this year that a pair of giant sequoias in Calaveras Big Trees State Park were severely damaged by prescribed fire operations in the fall of 2022.
Known as “The Orphans” since at least the 1860s, the trees grew near an edge of the North Grove of the state park.
According to press reports at the time, the trees were damaged by radiant heat from a prescribed fire project. Guy McCarthy wrote about the trees for the Union-Democrat in Sonora HERE, Alex Wigglesworth for the Los Angeles Times HERE and Dominique Williams covered the story for the Modesto Bee HERE.
While doing my usual search for the latest news about giant sequoias yesterday afternoon, I found an article HERE on MyMotherLodge.com with the headline “More Fuels Treatment Planning.” This morning I found the same article published HERE on ThePineTree.net.
The articles include an update on the fate of “The Orphans” and note that on Oct. 5 a team of giant sequoia experts “agreed in the field and have provided their opinion on the fire effects,” as follows:
“Given the amount of green canopy left on both trees, that it is extremely unlikely that either tree will die from the fire effects seen in the trees canopies.” As you know, giant sequoias can sustain 85-95% crown scorch and still survive. These trees show much less than that. We all agreed that the most likely outcome is that both trees will survive. There is also very good regeneration in this local hotspot which is great news. And finally, even though these trees will survive, we should anticipate that individual large sequoia trees may die even in the most careful prescribed fire. Having fire getting into or undermine a very old sequoia is one of the ways that these trees die naturally.”
The report was signed by Craig Thomas, director, and Brent J. Skaggs, contractor, of The Fire Restoration Group.
Also, according to the published report referenced above:
In the Fall of 2022, the Calaveras State Park Staff and CAL FIRE began the prescribed burning process on 180 acres of the North Grove which contains the Orphans. During prescribed burning operations the Orphans received a heat pulse from the prescribed burn that blacken the tree’s bark and scorch the lower limbs of the canopies of both trees, one tree more than the other. The resultant heat pulse triggered the Orphans seed cones to open and shower the surrounding area with thousands of seeds. Recent photos show both trees have a healthy green canopy and huge trunks are surrounded by thousands of offspring.
I reached out to Thomas and hope to talk with him later today. I also hope to reconnect with Skaggs, who I remember from his work at Sequoia National Forest during the time I published the Southern Sierra Messenger in Springville.
If you read the published reports referenced above, you’ll see that the article signed by the two also references the fuels reduction work at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. I wrote about the state park’s ambitious plans in March, before news of damage to “The Orphans” was first reported. You can read my earlier report HERE.
What I’m hoping to find out is who the team of experts was that assessed the damaged giant sequoia trees, and I thought I would be able to find that out this morning from Amber Sprock, a spokesperson for Calaveras Big Trees State Park. I was also hoping to publish one of the photos of “The Orphans” attributed to her and published with the piece by Thomas and Skaggs.
Unfortunately, Sprock tells me she did not release the photos for publication and, by my deadline today, could not do so. She tells me she will get back to me when she has more information.
So, it seems we have good news about “The Orphans,” but also possibly a breakdown in communications between the various agencies.
Also published yesterday was an article in the Union-Democrat about rain delaying a prescribed burn at the park with a mention of “The Orphans.” You can read the story HERE, and an excerpt:
There was fear that at least one of the Orphans was so badly damaged that it wouldn’t survive, though park officials said last week that both trees now appear to be growing green foliage near their crowns.
‘It is crucial that the South Grove burn happen’
While trying to track down more information, I also came upon a webpage I hadn’t previously discovered, savebigtrees.org. The website is operated by a group called Save Calaveras Big Trees. Tom Van Lokeren and Marcie Powers founded the group.
The group has a petition asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to “take immediate, emergency action” and “bring in an army of forest crews” to “prepare the park for safe and effective burning operations.” As of this morning, 1,303 people had signed the petition. You can see it HERE.
Powers responded to my outreach this morning, and I’ve decided to share her entire response, below:
We held a community healing ceremony with a leader of the Calaveras band of Mi-wuk Indians in June right after the damage was first discovered from the prescribed burn last October. Several experts thought the one that lost 90 percent of its crown wouldn’t make it. The Orphans are estimated to be 700-1200 years old so we were thrilled to see recently that both crowns are showing signs of new life.
We remain worried about the 1,000 giant sequoias in the South Grove, where the park plans a 1300-acre prescribed burn later this month or next.
The park told us they planned to prepare them the same way they prepared The Orphans — yet the South Grove, which is about two square miles, is astonishingly more overgrown than where The Orphans were badly scorched by the intense radiant heat of burning understory. We urged them to reduce the vegetation around the 1000 giant sequoias more aggressively than a minimum of three feet.
Having said that, it’s crucial that the South Grove burn happen. It’s our singular opportunity this year to start creating a resilient, healthy forest.
Going forward, carrying on the advocacy work of the Calaveras Big Trees Association, we have urged the state to expand its prescribed-burn-only plan to include hand and mechanical treatments to thin the whole 6500-acre forest, remove thousands of dead standing trees, hundreds of ladder fuels that are growing up into the crowns of giant sequoias and haul out a massive amount of dead vegetation. That is the kind of active forest management we believe is necessary to protect the Giant Sequoias from catastrophic fire.
Wildfire, water & weather update
Temperatures have been dropping below freezing at night in the High Sierra, but daytime temperatures are still pleasant and will even get into the 80s in the Yosemite Valley later this week. Lots of sunshine, no rain in the forecast so far. The best Sierra Nevada weather forecasts can be found at NWS Hanford, HERE, and NWS Sacramento, HERE.
Wildfire update: Prescribed burning continues at many locations in the Sierra Nevada. If you check out the WatchDuty map HERE you’ll see a string of green flame icons. Click through, and you’ll find that some of these burns are quite large.
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Giant sequoias in the news
* The Union Democrat in Sonora reported yesterday that rain delayed a plan to set fire to about 39 acres in the North Grove of giant sequoias at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The earliest work can now begin is Friday and burning could be postponed until Saturday, depending on conditions. Read more HERE.
• Before the postponement, MyMotherLode.com published a story about the planned burn in Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Read more HERE.
• On Monday a website called The Travel had a nice piece with photos about giant sequoias at the park — past and present. Read it HERE.
• The Conversation has a nice piece this morning about El Niño and predictions for the coming year including the potential impact on the Sierra Nevada. Read it HERE, and an excerpt:
Whether forecasters think a strong El Niño will develop depends on whose forecast model they trust.
This past spring, the dynamical forecast models were already very confident about the potential for a strong El Niño developing. These are big models that solve basic physics equations, starting with current oceanic and atmospheric conditions.
However, statistical models, which use statistical predictors of El Niño calculated from historical observations, were less certain.
Even in the most recent forecast model outlook, the dynamical forecast models were predicting a stronger El Niño than the statistical models were.
Giant sequoia around the world
I wondered if giant sequoias grow in Israel but so far haven’t found a record of any. However, the largest tree section in Israel can be found near the National Library of Israel Plaza. You can read more and see a photo HERE (scroll down to No. 4 in the online booklet). The slice of a giant sequoia was brought to Israel from California after the tree fell in a storm.
A placard nearby reads: “By counting the annual rings in the tree trunk, we can see that it is about 2,000 years old – this sequoia began its life in California when the Romans ruled our part of the Mediterranean.”
Thanks for reading!