“It’s a Moonscape” — 10% of the World’s Giant Sequoias Wiped Out By One Wildfire

One tenth of the world's mature giant sequoias were killed by the Castle Fire that scorched the southern Sierra Nevada late last year after a flurry of lightning strikes according to a new draft report prepared by the National Park Service. That’s an estimated 7,500 to 10,000 trees that had previously survived thousands of years of wildfires. Giant sequoias capture carbon dioxide from human pollution, provide critical habitat for wildlife and protect the watershed that communities rely on. We’ll talk about how far-reaching the consequences of losing these trees could be, the impact of this year’s extreme drought conditions on sequoia seedling regrowth and the outlook for sequoias in a changing climate.

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