{"id":715757,"date":"2026-07-28T17:19:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/715757\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T17:19:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:19:21","slug":"1900-giant-sequoia-trees-saved-from-death-in-california-this-is-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/715757\/","title":{"rendered":"1,900 giant sequoia trees saved from death in California. This is how"},"content":{"rendered":"

The old saying \u2018fight fire with fire\u2019 may be especially apt for California\u2019s giant sequoia trees. Trees that are burned in planned, low-intensity fires are more likely to survive subsequent wildfires, a study in Nature Communications<\/a>\u00a0has found.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the goal is protecting giant sequoias<\/a>, prescribed fire is an essential tool,\u201d says Dan Dixon from the University of California, Davis.<\/p>\n

\"AA forester sprays a giant sequoia during a controlled burn in 2009 in Kings Canyon National Park. Credit: Anthony Caprio\/National Park Service – Anthony Caprio\/National Park Service<\/p>\n

Giant sequoias are behemoths of the plant world. Found naturally along the western slopes of California\u2019s Sierra Nevada, these iconic trees can weigh as much as 15 blue whales and live for more than 3,000 years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With thick bark and tall canopies, they have evolved to withstand natural, low-intensity fires, which can open their cones and release their seeds. So, when wildfires tore through the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in 2020 and 2021, no one expected that a fifth of the trees would be destroyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese trees live for so long and have experienced so much variability of climate, differences in wildfire, drought \u2013 they\u2019ve seen it all,\u201d says Dixon. \u201cHaving so many die in just two years was unprecedented.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CastleAerial view shows the aftermath of a 2020 fire that hit Homer’s Nose Grove in Sequoia National Park. Credit: Anthony Caprio\/National Park Service<\/p>\n

Researchers wanted to find out why some sequoias died while others lived, so they turned to historical records and satellite images of the forests before and after the fires.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The landscape is a patchwork of areas that have been treated with prescribed burns \u2013 deliberately low- to moderate-intensity fires designed to reduce combustible materials, open up the canopy and create opportunities for wildlife \u2013 and areas that had not been burned for over a century.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drone footage of Sequoia National Forest after wildfire. Credit: Remke Luitjes\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Based on their analyses of 26,400 giant sequoias across 19 groves, they found that burns reduced the risk of death by about 77%. Trees that had received prescribed burns in the previous decade were four times more likely to survive than untreated trees. <\/p>\n

In addition, simulations revealed that previous prescribed burns prevented about 1,900 sequoia deaths, and that if all of the trees had been treated, an additional 3,900 would probably have survived.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"GiantGiant sequoias within prescribed burns were nearly four times more likely to survive extreme wildfire, according to the study. Credit: Dan Dixon\/UC Davis and National Agriculture Imagery Program\/USDA-FSA, 2022<\/p>\n

Driven by rising temperatures, intensifying drought and other factors, wildfires are becoming larger and more destructive across the western United States. Now, they pose a threat to even the oldest, most fire-adapted forests. <\/p>\n

Prescribed burns could help protect giant sequoias from these wildfires. By showing where and when these carefully managed fires can make the biggest difference, the researchers hope to give some of the planet\u2019s oldest trees a fighting chance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Find out more about the study<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prescribed burns could help protect the world’s largest trees from future wildfires. Credit: jumpcut101\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Top image: Carmen Mart\u00ednez Torr\u00f3n\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The old saying \u2018fight fire with fire\u2019 may be especially apt for California\u2019s giant sequoia trees. Trees that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-715757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}