LOS ANGELES, July 24 (BNA): The US Forest Service announced Friday that it is taking emergency action to save giant sequoia by accelerating projects that could begin within weeks to clear shrubs to protect the world’s largest trees from the growing threat of wildfire.
A move to bypass some environmental reviews could cut years off the normal approval process required to cut down young trees in national forests and use purposefully lit low-intensity fires to reduce the thick brush that helped fuel the raging wildfires that have killed up to 20% of all, the AP reports Press that big sequoia over the past two years.
“Without urgent action, wildfires could wipe out countless iconic giant sequoias,” Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said in a statement. “This emergency action to reduce fuel by A massive fire will occur that will protect unburned giant sequoia groves from the dangers of severe wildfires.”
Trees, the world’s largest by size, are under threat like never before. more More than a century of aggressive fire suppression has choked forests with thick vegetation, fallen logs and killed millions of trees by bark beetles that ignited a raging inferno exacerbated by drought and exacerbated by climate change.
The Forest Service announcement is among a wide range of efforts underway to save species found only on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in central California. Most of the about 70 orchards are clustered around Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and some extend to the north and north of Yosemite National Park.
Sequoia National Park, which is managed by the Department of the Interior and not subject to emergency measures, is considering a new and controversial plan to plant sequoia seedlings where large trees have been uprooted by a fire.
The Save Our Sequoias (SOS) Act, which also includes a clause to speed up environmental reviews like the Forest Service plan, was recently introduced by a bipartisan group of Congressmen including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose county includes Sequoia.
The group praised Moore’s announcement on Friday, but said in a statement that more work needs to be done to facilitate the process of deforestation.
“Today’s Forest Service work is an important step forward for Giant Sequoias, but without addressing other barriers to protecting these orchards, this emergency will only continue,” the group said. “It’s time to legalize this procedure by creating a truly comprehensive firefighting solution for every orchard in California through SOS and Save our Sequoia.”
Planned work will begin this summer on 12 orchards scattered across the Sequoia National Forest and the Sierra National Forest in the Sierra. feet (90 metres).
The plan calls for the cutting of young trees and plants and the use of prescribed fires — deliberately lit and monitored by firefighters during wet conditions — to remove decaying needles, sticks, and logs that accumulate on the forest floor.
Some environmental groups have criticized forest thinning as an excuse for commercial logging.
Ara Mardirosian, CEO of Sequoia ForestKeeper Group, described the ad as a “well-organised PR campaign.”
He said he did not take into account how cutting down trees could exacerbate wildfires and could increase carbon emissions that would exacerbate the climate crisis.
“Fast tracking thinning fails to account for those roads and recorded areas…allows wind-driven fires due to the increased airflow caused by the opening in the canopy, which increases the speed and intensity of wildfires,” he said.
Rob York, a professor and specialist in Cooperative Extension in Forests managed by the University of California, Berkeley, said the Forest Service plan can be beneficial but requires extensive follow-up.
“For me, this represents a triage approach to dealing with the urgent threat of giant sequoia shocks,” York said in an email. “Treats will need to be followed by frequently prescribed fires in order to restore and protect the orchards in the long term.”
Strong sequoia, protected by its thick bark and leaves high above the flame, was once considered almost flammable.
The trees thrive even with occasional low-intensity fires—such as those historically lit for Native Americans or allowed to burn—that clear out trees that compete for sunlight and water. The heat of the flame opens the cones and allows the seeds to spread.
But fires in recent years have shown that although trees can live for more than 3,000 years, they are not immortal and more work may be needed to protect them.
During a fire in Sequoia National Park last year, firefighters wrapped the most famous trees in protective foil and used flame retardants in tree canopies.
Earlier this month, when a fire threatened a mariposa grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park, firefighters set up sprinklers.
The orchard caught fire – the first massive fire in over a century – but there was no significant damage. A parks forest ecologist attributed to controlled burns the protection of 500 large trees.
MI