It survived ‘Stumptown.’ Now an ancient redwood may finally be protected for good

4 weeks, 2 days ago

Charred by fire, these grand California redwoods rise again. How to hike among them

LA Times

• Big Basin Redwoods State Park, near Santa Cruz, is recovering after fire scorched almost the entire park in 2020. The route in question is the Redwood Loop Trail, part of Big Basin Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. “You’ll see shoots of green coming off these black trunks throughout the park,” said Will Fourt, senior park and …

Trees State Hike Miles Park Cruz Santa

9 months, 3 weeks ago

California tribe that lost 90% of land during Gold Rush to get site to serve as gateway to redwoods

Associated Press

California’s Yurok Tribe, which had 90% of its territory taken from it during the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, will be getting a slice of its land back to serve as a new gateway to Redwood National and State Parks visited by 1 million people a year. The Yurok will be the first Native people to manage tribal land with …

National Land Parks California State Tribe Salmon

10 months, 1 week ago

The surprising US region that's home to the world's oldest forests

BBC

The surprising US region that's home to the world's oldest forests Philip Scalia/Alamy The discovery of a 385-million-year-old forest in Cairo, New York, has stunned the world – but visitors to the region have been able to see rare and ancient fossil forests for more than a century. There are Devonian rocks scattered across the world, but during the 19th …

Plants Region Ancient New York Trees Tree York

1 year, 1 month ago

California’s Giant Sequoias Are in Big Trouble

Wired

This story originally appeared on Yale Environment 360 and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In 2015 a lightning strike started what became known as the Rough Fire, which eventually burned more than 150,000 acres of forest east of Fresno and just west of Kings Canyon National Park. The blaze burned into seven different sequoia groves in Sequoia National …

California Giant Big Sequoia Giant Sequoias Sequoias

1 year, 2 months ago

California’s oldest tree may be threatened by proposed Riverside County development

LA Times

It started life near the end of the last Ice Age, nestled between two boulders on a rise in the Jurupa Hills of Riverside County — a shrubby oak tree estimated to be 13,000 years old, making it one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. A recently released environmental impact report on a proposed master planned community called Rio …

Tree Plant California Native Riverside County Riverside Jurupa Valley Uc Riverside

1 year, 2 months ago

California’s mountains are too warm for some trees to survive. Inside these ‘zombie forests’

LA Times

There’s something eerie about this forest in the southern Sierra Nevada. Researchers at Stanford University found in a recent study that roughly one-fifth of all conifer forests in the Sierra are mismatched with the warmer climate and have become “zombie forests.” “The name ‘zombie forest’ is kind of kitschy, but I’ve come to find that it is haunting,” said ecologist …

Climate Change Change Climate Land California Hill Nevada

1 year, 2 months ago

How two scorched giant sequoias kicked off a controversy about controlled burns in California

LA Times

Two beloved giant sequoias scorched in a prescribed burn at Calaveras Big Trees State Park last year now appear likely to recover. “It literally is a carpet of green underneath and they’re all little babies.” Calaveras Big Trees is a haven for local residents, who describe a spiritual connection to the park’s cathedral-like sequoia groves. “I still feel that had …

California Trees Giant Big Park Sierra Prescribed

1 year, 7 months ago

In burned-out groves of giant sequoias, crews plant seeds of hope. Will they survive?

LA Times

The worker stabbed the loamy soil with a hoedad, dropped in a delicate sequoia seedling and tamped the dirt tight around it. “Giant sequoia are going through an existential crisis,” said Tim Borden, of the Save the Redwoods League. Save the Redwoods League hopes to plant 30,000 giant sequoia seedlings at their Alder Creek grove property, as part of their …

Climate Change Trees Forest Los Killed Plant Grove

1 year, 8 months ago

US inventory: old forests cover area larger than California

Associated Press

— The Biden administration has identified more than 175,000 square miles of old growth and mature forests on U.S. government land and plans to craft a new rule to better protect the nation’s woodlands from fires, insects and other side effects of climate change, officials said Thursday. U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands combined have more than …

Climate Change Growth Land California Trees Biden Federal

2 years, 5 months ago

Trekkers to world’s tallest tree in Northern California forest to face fine & possible jail time; know why

India TV News

Tree enthusiasts who make the trek to the world’s tallest tree deep in a Northern California forest will face a fine and possible jail time after park officials declared the remote area off-limits because of damage done by trampling visitors to the tree and surrounding forest, a park official said Monday. But that hasn’t stopped scores of visitors from hiking …

Tree Visitors Tall Arguello

2 years, 5 months ago

California trying to make the world’s tallest tree invisible. Now visitors face jail, fines

LA Times

It sounds hard to hide the tallest tree in the world. “People have the right to come and enjoy their parks,” said Leonel Arguello, the park’s chief of natural resources. “Pressing the soil down is going to hurt the tree’s ability to survive,” Nelson said. “That’s just the natural way of things in these open redwood forests,” Arguello said. “So …

California Going Area Tree Visitors Park Nelson

2 years, 5 months ago

Yosemite’s Giant Sequoias expected to survive wildfire started by people

The Independent

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy An iconic grove of giant sequoia trees seems to have escaped the worst-case scenario as …

Climate Wildfire Nevada Giant Sierra Yosemite National Sequoia

2 years, 5 months ago

Editorial: Climate change is killing California’s iconic trees

LA Times

Firefighters and forest ecologists are again scrambling to save ancient giant sequoia trees from the threat posed by increasingly fast, powerful and destructive wildfires that have raged through California in recent years. So far, Methuselah, a 4,853-year-old bristlecone pine that may be the oldest living tree on Earth, has remained free of bark beetles, Times reporter Louis Sahagun wrote last …

Climate Change California Trees Tree Joshua Giant Sequoias Bark Beetles

2 years, 6 months ago

A wildfire threatens giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park

NPR

A wildfire threatens giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park Enlarge this image toggle caption Noah Berger/AP Noah Berger/AP YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — The largest grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park remained closed Saturday, a day after hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate as a wildfire burning through dense forest became the latest to threaten the …

Trees Giant Park Yosemite Noah Grove Yosemite National Park

2 years, 6 months ago

Wildfire rages near Yosemite’s famous giant sequoia trees

The Independent

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A fire has broken out in Yosemite National Park, forcing closures around some of the …

Wildfire Trees Giant Nps Sequoia

2 years, 6 months ago

The genetic power of ancient trees

BBC

The genetic power of ancient trees Jordan Siemens/Getty A man hikes beneath giant Sequoia trees Even as we discover the incredible benefits of the world's most ancient trees, we are losing them to climate change, writes Jim Robbins. Milarch's organisation, now called Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, is still cloning trees, and they are now heading to California to search for, …

Climate Change Climate Credit Water California Ancient Montana

2 years, 7 months ago

Commentary: Will Methuselah, a tree standing for nearly 5,000 years, survive modern humanity’s ravages?

LA Times

While every responsible citizen was fixated on election returns this week, my mind was high on a mountainside almost midway up California’s border with Nevada. Last month, there was news among dendrochronologists that researchers in Chile believe an ancient cypress there known as Gran Abuelo may be 5,400 years old, which, if confirmed, would beat Methuselah by about six centuries. …

California Methuselah Gran Abuelo Oldest Tree

2 years, 7 months ago

Once-trampled (and secret) Grove of Titans redwood stand in Northern California reopens

LA Times

The Grove of Titans contains some of the largest coast redwoods. Now, a new 1,300-foot boardwalk through the Grove of Titans will give visitors a chance to see the old-growth redwoods, many reaching 300 feet tall, without threatening the forest’s fragile ecosystem. The path, which is elevated around the grove, opened Saturday and will provide year-round access from the newly …

Grove Trail Gates Redwoods Titans Redwood

2 years, 7 months ago

Those drive-through redwood trees? Yup, they’re still standing

LA Times

I’m not a fan of cutting holes in massive redwoods to carve out a little fun for tourists who want to drive through them. Times writer Christopher Reynolds says that of the three privately owned “tunnel trees” in California, the 315-foot-tall Chandelier Tree in Leggett is the handsomest. “Now in the final stages of construction in a Vista backyard, Kottmeier’s …

Water California Trees Los Angeles Los Angeles San

2 years, 11 months ago

California redwood forest returned to Native American tribes

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The descendants of Native American tribes on the Northern California coast are reclaiming a bit of their heritage that includes ancient redwoods that have stood since their ancestors walked the land. The group of 10 tribes that have inhabited the area for thousands of years will be responsible for protecting the land dubbed Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ, or “Fish Run …

Land League Lost Coast Redwood Hodder Tribal Group Forest Returned

3 years, 1 month ago

Scenic stretch of Lost Coast redwoods to be spared the ax

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The rugged Lost Coast is about to become less forbidding. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” The property sits at the southern end of the largely undeveloped Lost Coast, an unruly landscape untamed by highways and surrounded by timberlands off-limits to the public. “You’d be hard pressed to find 5 miles of coastline for sale without going to a …

Property California Public Coast Area Lost Lost Coast

3 years, 1 month ago

Giant Forest to reopen months after fires threatened sequoias

LA Times

The General Sherman tree stands in the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park after officials removed its fire-protective covering on Oct. 22. Three months after wildfire flames ripped through California’s ancient sequoia groves, officials at the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have announced the Giant Forest will reopen to the public. Visitors will be able to access limited areas …

Access Forest Officials Open Giant Dec Paterson

3 years, 1 month ago

Editorial: California lost thousands of giant sequoias. It’s tragic, but at least we are aware

LA Times

Pretty much anyone who has had the privilege of standing next to one of the biggest, oldest giant sequoia trees understands the rush of awe. But as the public tracked the fight against the KNP Complex fire in September, which threatened giant sequoias to the point where their lower parts had to be tucked under fire-resistant foil blankets, it might …

Climate Change California Trees Giant Sequoia Giant Sequoias Sequoias

3 years, 1 month ago

‘There is nothing alive on that tree’: Inside a giant sequoia grove scorched by the KNP Complex fire

LA Times

It looked like a bomb had gone off in the vast stand of giant sequoias on a mountain ridge in the southern Sierra. “That is one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to look at in my entire 30-year career with the Forest Service.” The Redwood Mountain Grove at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks was devastated by …

National Trees Mountain Giant David Tree Jordan

3 years, 1 month ago

California wildfires have killed almost 20% of world’s giant sequoias over past two years

The Independent

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy California wildfires have destroyed nearly 20 per cent of the world’s population of giant sequoia …

California Nevada Trees Sierra Fires Sequoia

3 years, 1 month ago

Thousands of giant sequoias killed in California wildfires

The Independent

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Lightning-sparked wildfires killed thousands of …

California Trees Forest Giant Largest Brigham Giant Sequoias

3 years, 2 months ago

Experts Bemoan Biden’s Mixed Messages On Old-Growth Forests

Huff Post

LOADING ERROR LOADING A group of U.S. forest ecologists, climate scientists and conservationists are calling out what they view as a “huge disconnect” between President Joe Biden’s rhetoric about the urgent need to combat deforestation and the policies he’s advancing back home. pic.twitter.com/Ehfx2x3cRx — Forbes November 2, 2021 His comments came a day after the White House released a 65-page …

Climate Congress National Oregon Trees Forest Biden

3 years, 2 months ago

After California wildfire, thousands of trees to be removed

India TV News

In the wake of California wildfires, upwards of 10,000 trees weakened by fires, drought, disease or age must be removed, work that will keep a nearby highway closed to visitors who seek the world’s two largest sequoia trees. The hazard trees could potentially fall onto people and cars on the section of State Route 180 known as Generals Highway, or …

West California Trees Tree Fires Sequoia

3 years, 3 months ago

Can 2,500-year-old sequoias be saved by 25-year-old climate activists?

LA Times

A giant sequoia near Springville, Calif., was decapitated in the Castle fire in August 2020. Writing on The Times’ op-ed page, 25-year-old Daniel Propp identifies the only productive response by people like him — becoming an activist: “Beyond hope there is more than despair. The ship may sink, but we are going to swim like hell toward shore.” It’s almost …

Trees

3 years, 3 months ago

As fires threaten the Ancient Ones, sequoia lovers wonder what else will no longer endure

LA Times

Roots jut out from a giant sequoia along Big Stump Trail, where smoke from the KNP Complex fire fills the air in Kings Canyon National Park. They’re the witnesses to everything and they literally allow us to breathe.” In San Diego, Katie Ohlin, an early witness to spiraling sequoia mortality, watched this week as people worldwide poured out their alarm …

National Earth Trees Forest Giant Tree Foreman

3 years, 3 months ago

California wildfires burn into groves of giant sequoia trees

Associated Press

THREE RIVERS, Calif. — California wildfires have burned into at least four groves of gigantic ancient sequoias in national parks and forests, though cooler weather on Friday helped crews trying to keep the flames away from a famous cluster containing the world’s largest tree. The fires lapped into the groves with trees that can be up to 200 feet tall …

National West California Forest Park Square Groves

3 years, 3 months ago

Raging California wildfires threaten ancient sequoia forest

Al Jazeera

The extraordinary intensity of the California wildfires could overwhelm the sequoia trees, some thousands of years old. The colossal “General Sherman” tree in Sequoia National Park, the Giant Forest Museum and other buildings were wrapped for protection against the possibility of intense flames, fire spokeswoman Rebecca Paterson said. The Colony Fire, one of two burning in Sequoia National Park, was …

Trees Giant Grove Square National Park California Wildfires Sequoias

3 years, 3 months ago

A Single Fire Killed Thousands Of Sequoias. Scientists Are Racing To Save The Rest

NPR

A Single Fire Killed Thousands Of Sequoias. Scientists Are Racing To Save The Rest toggle caption Lauren Sommer/NPR On a hot afternoon in California's Sequoia National Park, Alexis Bernal squints up at the top of a 200-foot-tall tree. toggle caption Lauren Sommer/NPR Sequoias need fire, but fires are changing Giant sequoias only grow in isolated pockets, tucked in the mountains …

National California Trees Rest Lauren Sponsor Message Caption

3 years, 3 months ago

World’s largest trees under siege from California wildfire as sequoias face new perils

LA Times

Deep inside the heart of Sequoia National Park lies a cathedral-like grove that is home to thousands of towering sequoia trees. “In a climatological sense, we are in uncharted territory,” said Crystal Kolden, a fire scientist at UC Merced who has been tracking the KNP Complex’s march toward the critically dry forest. “It’s just really not the type of conditions …

Climate Change National Wildfire California Trees Forest Giant

3 years, 3 months ago

Wildfires rage in Sequoia National park and forest, sending flames into grove of giant trees

LA Times

A pair of lightning-sparked fires that took hold in rugged terrain in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks exploded over the weekend, while another blaze to the south burned into a grove of giant sequoia trees, sending smoke billowing above popular tourist destinations and forcing closures in the area. Flames were in the perimeter of the towering trees — …

National California Giant Park Kramer Grove Fires

3 years, 7 months ago

As wildfires decimate the giant sequoia, California faces unprecedented loss

LA Times

A sunset is obscured by smoke-filled skies near Alder Creek Grove, where sequoia trees had grown on this Sierra Nevada ridge top for well over 500 years. “They’re one of the most fire-adapted species on Earth, and that is one way that this really is a warning sign much bigger than the trees themselves,” Brigham said. “Then things started to …

Water Nevada Trees Forest Giant Killed Rough

3 years, 8 months ago

Resilient redwood forest a beacon of hope for California

Associated Press

BIG BASIN REDWOODS STATE PARK, Calif. — Eight months after a lightning siege ignited more than 650 wildfires in Northern California, the state’s oldest park — which was almost entirely ablaze — is doing what nature does best: recovering. Big Basin Redwoods State Park is closed, but during a backcountry guided tour earlier this week, clusters of chartreuse shoots were …

California Forest State Park Redwoods Redwood Big Basin Spohrer

4 years, 1 month ago

Hundreds of towering giant sequoias killed by the Castle fire — a stunning loss

LA Times

Kristen Shive glanced around the blackened forest and started counting. Shive had been watching the growth of the Castle fire since it started Aug. 19 with a lightning strike on the edge of the Golden Trout Wilderness in the Sequoia National Forest. “Nobody was really worried” about the Castle fire in its first weeks, said Christy Brigham, science chief of …

National Los Angeles Giant Rough Los Angeles Times Powell

4 years, 4 months ago

Redwoods survive wildfire at California’s oldest state park

Associated Press

BOULDER CREEK, Calif. — When a massive wildfire swept through California’s oldest state park last week it was feared many trees in a grove of old-growth redwoods, some of them 2,000 years old and among the tallest living things on Earth, may finally have succumbed. But an Associated Press reporter and photographer hiked the renowned Redwood Trail at Big Basin …

Trees Forest Old State Park Redwoods Redwood Mclendon

4 years, 4 months ago

Wildfire damages much of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Fate of big trees unknown

LA Times

A raging wildfire has inflicted serious damage on Big Basin Redwoods State Park northeast of Santa Cruz, prompting a conservation group on Thursday to openly mourn the loss of California’s oldest state park. Originally called California Redwood Park, Big Basin was created in 1902 amid a statewide movement to protect California’s ancient redwoods, a campaign that included the Sempervirens Fund. …

California State Big Park Basin Big Basin Big Basin Redwoods State Park

4 years, 9 months ago

The Greatest Climate-Protecting Technology Ever Devised

Wired

Ken Bible steps over a carpet of bracken and vanilla leaf to get closer to the big Douglas fir. Once upon a time, its particular seed happened to fall from a particular drying cone into what, hundreds of years later, would become a small section of protected old growth inside the Wind River Experimental Forest, a research area in southern …

Trees Forest Old Bible Tree Douglas Doug

5 years, 1 month ago

Four top authors' reveal magical memories about the trees that SHAPED their lives

Daily Mail

A childhood fear of the New Forest. Four authors revealed the memories that shaped their view of trees, William Boyd recounts planting a selection of trees after a storm caused a mature oak to come down By contrast, our family home in the borders of Scotland was arrived at via a tall, landscaped avenue of mature beeches. And this familiarity …

World Trees Forest Village Tree Elm Come

5 years, 3 months ago

Conservation group to buy Alder Creek giant sequoia grove and world’s fifth-largest tree

LA Times

Skip Rouch patted the base of the copper-hued giant. His family owns it, along with hundreds of other giant sequoias in the Alder Creek Grove — the world’s largest private holding of the world’s largest trees. Save the Redwoods League’s Sam Hodder walks through the Alder Creek Grove, the largest private holding of giant sequoias, in Sequoia Crest, Calif., in …

Family California Los Angeles Los Angeles Giant League

It survived ‘Stumptown.’ Now an ancient redwood may finally be protected for good

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