THE GIANT SEQUOIA

Sequoia National Park is closed due to massive fires burning nearby that have resulted in the loss of more than 100 structures and thousands of evacuations. The nation’s second national park would be celebrating its 130th anniversary this week.

Jurassic park?

The oldest known redwood fossils date back more than 200 million years to the Jurassic period and the trees once spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The last giant sequoias are on about 48,000 acres, in about 73 groves scattered along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. The northernmost sequoias grow in Tahoe National Forest, and the southernmost groves are in the Sequoia National Forest, northeast of Bakersfield.

Giant sequoias live a very long time and grow quickly. They require a lot of water, which is mostly from the Sierra snowpack that soaks into the ground.

Fire isn’t necessarily bad

The fires burning near the park may help the trees. Giant sequoias can protect themselves against natural threats, allowing them to survive for thousands of years. Their mass can prevent them from getting blown over by high winds. Their bark is so thick it protects them against fire and harmful insects. Occasional wildfires can help the reproduction of the trees by removing underbrush and adding nutrients to the soil. Sequoia seedlings need nutrient-rich soil, lots of sunlight in areas free of competition from other plants to thrive.

“There is something wonderfully attractive in this king tree, even when beheld from afar, that draws us to it with indescribable enthusiasm; its superior height and massive smoothly rounded outlines proclaiming its character in any company; and when one of the oldest attains full stature on some commanding ridge it seems the very god of the woods.”

— John Muir