If (when) a tree falls in a forest…

‘That horrible sound of a tree splintering before the huge boom’

Volume 1, Number 24 - Monday, Jan. 16, 2023

Sections of a fallen giant sequoia tree can be seen on both sides of the road in this photo taken at Sequoia National Park in November 2022. — Photo by Claudia Elliott

Perspective

DURING ONE OF THE RECENT STORMS, I read a Facebook post in a group dedicated to one of the communities surrounded by Sequoia National Forest: 

“That horrible sound of a tree splintering before the huge boom breaks my heart,” the group member wrote. “We have so few trees left.”

I was reminded of the old conundrum: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” You may have pondered that question yourself and if you do a Google search you’ll find thousands of answers ranging from scientific to ridiculous.

For this newsletter, I’m concerned about a different conundrum — how forests might best be managed to ensure longevity of giant sequoia trees? I don’t have the answer to either that or the tree-falling question, but I do know that scientists and land managers are working to learn more as quickly as possible because giant sequoias seem to be facing a peril they have not faced before — high intensity wildfire — which may be due to drought, previous public policy, over-stocked forests or… 

Whatever the cause, it’s true that many trees have been lost in recent years. Not just giant sequoias, but all kinds of trees in the Sierra Nevada, especially in the southern Sierra — where most of the giant sequoia groves are found. 

How many trees have been lost? 

Here are a few telling headlines (each links to more detail):

• Nearly a third of southern Sierra forests killed by drought and wildfire in last decade, The Los Angeles Times, Nov. 1, 2022

• California fires are so severe some forests might vanish forever, The Los Angeles Times, July 20, 2022

• Massive forest die-off in Sierra Nevada caused by multiyear drought, University of California, July 2, 2019

• Tree mortality following drought in the central and southern Sierra Nevada, USDA Forest Service, 2019

And there are many more articles on the topic.

But in California, our attention has been drawn recently not to trees killed by wildfire or drought, but to the trouble caused by just what we need to help offset drought — precipitation. And guess what? Lots of trees have gone down during these recent storms.

The relatively few people who live in California’s Sierra Nevada may already be aware — like the Facebook poster I mentioned earlier — of trees falling in the forests during these storms. But most fallen trees won’t be discovered until the snow melts and crews head in to clear roads and trails. They will undoubtedly encounter many fallen trees in the forest.

And even in our towns and cities, the rains and wind have brought down trees and among them, the New York Times reported last week, was a giant sequoia growing in the Capitol Park in Sacramento.

I’d like you to consider the significance of that statement. While reporting on California’s storms and the inauguration of a governor, perhaps the leading newspaper in the country noted that a giant sequoia had fallen down. (Yes, giant sequoia trees are noteworthy even far away from their native habitat.)

You can read what the NY Times reported here. (That link, by the way, is supposedly a “gift link,” which means that I am sharing the benefit of my paid subscription here and you should be able to read the full article even if you don’t have a digital subscription. I’d appreciate feedback if you are unable to read the article.)

Here are a couple of excerpts from the Jan. 6 article by reporters Shawn Hubler and Jill Cowan:

On the State Capitol grounds, a short distance from the spot where Governor Gavin Newsom was being inaugurated for a second term on Friday, a giant sequoia lay uprooted, felled by the storms and surrounded with hazard tape and scattered drifts of branches; its fall sheared the limbs off one side of a nearby Torrey pine. Paula Peper, a retired U.S. Forest Service urban ecologist in Sacramento, estimated that the giant sequoia had stood for 80 to 100 years, through as many as 18 governors.

In a news conference, Ms. (Karla) Nemeth, the state water resources director, blamed the horticultural devastation on the drought as well as the violent weather. “We’re moving from extreme drought to extreme flood,” she said. “What that means is, a lot of our trees are stressed.”

Yes, trees are stressed in our forests and they’re stressed in our cities. 

Here’s more about what happens when giant sequoia trees fall down. A teaser from the linked article, “As USGS research ecologist Nate Stephenson told the Los Angeles Times: ‘Sequoias do fall. That's how big sequoias die... It's never anything that I consider with alarm.’”

A 2016 booklet provides a history of the 40-acre Capitol Park and the trees that grow (or grew) there. And you may spot some photos of giant sequoias on this webpage about the park.

GS Lands Coalition progress

I’m continuing with reports from the Dec. 14 meeting of the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition here…

Sierra National Forest was included in the USDA Forest Service section of the coalition’s report and the report included Sierra, Tahoe and Sequoia national forests, as well as Giant Sequoia National Monument. A focus was the emergency declaration by the Chief of the Forest Service in July 2022 for 12 of the unburned groves and portions of groves that are at high risk of wildfire. The Forest Service began reducing fuels in groves on Sequoia National Forest and also the Nelder Grove on Sierra National Forest.

According to information the Forest Service provided at the time of the emergency declaration, the Nelder Grove Fuels Reduction Project was among planned projects with the earliest decisions not anticipated until spring 2023, leaving Nelder and the other groves included in the emergency response highly vulnerable during the next several wildfire seasons. 

The Nelder Grove is in Madera County, on the Bass Lake Ranger District, and among seven giant sequoia groves that are north of the Kings River. The only groves to the north are the three groves in Yosemite, the two groves in Calaveras Big Tree State Park and Placer County Big Trees grove.

Monarchs in the Nelder Grove were hit hard by the Railroad Fire in September 2017 with 38 of the grove’s 92 monarch trees killed.

The McKinley Grove on the High Sierra Ranger District was not included in the emergency response. This grove is in the Kings River Watershed.

Not noted in the coalition’s report, but relevant is that Sierra National Forest is working on another Emergency Giant Sequoia Fuel Reduction Project “to remove hazardous fuels to project giant sequoia groves from the threat of uncharacteristic wildfire.” Scoping took place in the fall and a decision on the environmental review is due in May. Both Nelder and McKinley groves are included in this project.

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Giant sequoias in the news

Giant sequoias haven’t been in the news much lately, largely because the news in California has mostly been about storms. I thought it interesting, though, that wind is a factor both in wildfire and devastating rainstorms.

• Here’s an interesting piece from the Washington Post: California’s winter storms have been deadlier than any wildfire since 2018.

• And a piece from The Guardian about California’s strangely quiet wildfire year.

• And something that didn’t pop up in my earlier searching, from about a month ago, an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review: “Rethinking Risk and Responsibility in the Western Wildfire Crisis.” Here’s an excerpt: “Clearly there is broad consensus that society should manage wildlands to avoid severe wildfire impacts. But how else should a society invest in risk reduction? What are the primary drivers of risk? Where are the dominant impacts we are trying to avoid? What are our primary objectives in managing wildfire? How do we create social change to meet those objectives? These are serious questions that we often get wrong because of our laser focus on public lands forests.”

Historic photo of the week

The Capitol Dome in Sacramento can be seen faintly in the background of this 1952 photo of a giant sequoia planted on the grounds. I have seen other giant sequoias in Capitol Park and don’t know if this is the tree that fell during a recent storm. From a report I found on the Facebook page it appears that this particular tree was removed within the last couple of years to make room for a construction project. — Photo by Woodbridge Metcalf from the Fritz-Metcalf Collection, U.C. Berkeley Library Digital Collection

Giant sequoias around the world

The Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel Monastery in Oregon will be moving sometime this year, according to this and other news reports. The small community of Mt. Angel is south of Portland. Most of the remaining 16 sisters will be moving to assisted living nearby. You can learn more about the sisters and the monastery here. You will see that their logo includes a cross and a giant sequoia tree. 1859 Magazine published an article about the tree in 2018. According to the article, Sister Protasia Schindler found the seedling growing beside railroad tracks in 1893. She dug it up to plant next to the monastery’s entrance. The tree now dwarfs the building as well as other trees on the grounds, including another giant sequoia planted in 1982. In 2004, the older giant sequoia was designated an Oregon Heritage Tree.

Thanks for reading!