<
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/26/1232963498/sequoias-wildfires-climate-change-replanting>
'On a late autumn day, a team of forestry workers spreads out among the burned
trunks of giant sequoia trees. The 1,000-year-old trees in the grove are dead
but still standing, killed in an extreme wildfire that raced through Sequoia
and Kings Canyon National Parks.
In the shadow of one of the trees, the crew gets to work, pulling tiny, 4-inch
seedlings out of bags clipped to their belts and tucking them into the dirt.
"Wish it some luck and that's it," says Micah Craig of the Eastern Sierra
Conservation Corps, standing back to look at the young sequoia. He then grabs
another seedling, part of a historic planting effort that the National Park
Service hopes will be enough to preserve one of the world's most iconic
species.
Over only two years, about one-fifth of all giant sequoias have been killed in
extreme wildfires in California. The numbers shocked ecologists, since the
enormous trees can live more than 2,000 years and have evolved to live with
frequent, low-intensity fires in the Sierra Nevada.
Recent fires have burned bigger and more intensely than sequoias are accustomed
to, a result of the way humans have changed the forest. After the 2020 and 2021
fires, scientists watched the sequoia groves to see if the next generation of
trees is emerging to replace their lost parents. In some places, seedlings are
filling the forest floor. In others, fewer are emerging from the burned soil.
The smaller numbers of seedlings concerned scientists and the National Park
Service. So in a historic step, the agency for the first time has begun
replanting some severely burned areas. With a life span of thousands of years,
the new seedlings will grow up in a climate that's rapidly changing. So, park
officials are bringing in seedlings from other sequoia groves, ones that may
have the genetic tools to handle a more hostile future.'
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-bus-drivers-contraceptive-implants/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
