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from the imagine-having-two-thousand-birthdays dept.
California wildfires threaten famous giant sequoia trees:
THREE RIVERS, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters wrapped the base of the world’s largest tree in a fire-resistant blanket as they tried to save a famous grove of gigantic old-growth sequoias from wildfires burning Thursday in California’s rugged Sierra Nevada.
The colossal General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest, some other sequoias, the Giant Forest Museum and other buildings were wrapped as protection against the possibility of intense flames, fire spokeswoman Rebecca Paterson said.
The aluminum wrapping can withstand intensive heat for short periods. Federal officials say they have been using the material for several years throughout the U.S. West to protect sensitive structures from flames.
[...] The Colony Fire, one of two burning in Sequoia National Park, was expected to reach the Giant Forest, a grove of 2,000 sequoias, at some point within days. It was unclear Thursday night whether that had happened. The fire didn’t grow significantly as a layer of smoke reduced its spread, fire spokeswoman Katy Hooper said.
It comes after a wildfire killed thousands of sequoias, some as tall as high-rises and thousands of years old, in the region last year.
The General Sherman Tree[*] is the largest in the world by volume, at 52,508 cubic feet (1,487 cubic meters), according to the National Park Service. It towers 275 feet (84 meters) high and has a circumference of 103 feet (31 meters) at ground level.
[...] Giant sequoias are adapted to fire, which can help them thrive by releasing seeds from their cones and creating clearings that allow young sequoias to grow. But the extraordinary intensity of fires — fueled by climate change — can overwhelm the trees.
That happened last year when the Castle Fire killed what studies estimate were 7,500 to 10,600 large sequoias, according to the National Park Service.
[*] Wikipedia description.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday September 19 2021, @12:43AM
Actually, the solution has been underway for awhile. However, it's like plugging leaks on a submarine that is plunging towards the Laurentian Abyss. They're a good thing to do, but not a solution against the primary problem.
California has a controlled burn program. It needs to be expanded by at least 20x because it is way behind. If the controlled burns were conducted correctly and adequately, the risks of out of control wildfires would be a lot less. Those controlled burns mimic the beneficial effects that fire brings to a forest. Not to mention getting rid of the kindling on the ground.
Where Climate Change is greatly exacerbating things is how much of the forests are now dead. The lack of water has just flat out killed huge swaths of forest in California. Those dead trees are kindling for the fires that are now hotter, faster, and more destructive. I dunno if we're smart and mature enough to fix it, because we're still letting Nestle drain the damn forests for fucktons of water each and every day to sell back to us in plastic bottles. Fuck Nestle.
Groundwater reserves are dwindling, Climate Change is reshaping how water is distributed planet wide, and the future doesn't look good.
About the only good thing is when you look at this historical maps for the last 10 years and realize just how much of California has already burned. Part of the reason why the current fires have come under control is because they're traveling into areas already burned in the last few years. The fire season next year, which may start just as early as this year, can't burn what has already been burned. So the controlled burn backlog is being taken care of by nature itself.
California isn't alone. Look at the fire maps and historical data and you can see it is Oregon, Seattle, Idaho, and Montana.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.