Restoring an ancient landscape in a new era
After acquiring Alder Creek, the League set out on a monumental task: Preparing this landscape to survive and thrive amid the existential threats of drought, warming temperatures, and megafires. As we anticipate this future, we are inspired by the past.
When imagining what we want this forest to look like, we start by considering what this forest would have looked like today had Indigenous peoples never been forcibly removed and their traditional practices never discontinued and outlawed. With the removal of Indigenous stewardship and the exclusion of wildfire, the characteristics of giant sequoia groves—and mixed conifer forests more generally—have changed in innumerable ways. Based on previous research in the Sierra Nevada, historic forest structure varied greatly across the landscape; however, tree density was much lower when the nature fire regime was intact compared to the dry mixed-conifer forests of today.
At Alder Creek, a significant amount of the increase in tree density is represented by white fir and other shade-tolerant species—trees that prefer denser forests where little sunlight reaches the forest floor. These trees can contribute to severe wildfires because they can act as ladder fuels and allow fire to reach the crowns of giant sequoias. High tree density was a potential contributor to the high-severity fires that burned parts of the property in 2020. And it remains a danger to the areas that have not recently burned. Under an intact fire regime, many of these shade-tolerant trees would have routinely been thinned by natural lightning fires or Indigenous cultural burning. The increased density is also connected to rapid spread of insect and fungus outbreaks and has decreased the ability of trees to survive prolonged drought.
These conditions, when combined with the impacts of climate change, have caused an unprecedented loss of old-growth sequoias throughout the Sierra Nevada since 2015. Giant sequoias are in a fight for their lives. The League is committed to doing all we can to create a refugia for giant sequoia and other threatened or endangered flora and fauna at Alder Creek.
Objectives
Some of our objectives to restore Alder Creek to a more healthy and resilient forest include the following:
- Decrease the number of shade-tolerant species of trees such as white fir and incense cedar
- Create openings in the forest that allow more sunlight to reach the forest floor, conditions that favor growth of sequoia, sugar pine, and ponderosa pine and creates habitat diversity for all flora and fauna
- Decrease the likelihood of fire traveling from the forest floor to tree canopies by reducing the density of small trees and pruning tree branches of small trees that remain
- Preserve dead and living trees that provide valuable habitat for birds, raptors, and small mammals
- Promote diversity of understory vegetation, and preserve downed logs that provide valuable wildlife habitat
- Reduce understory fuel to lower the potential for high-severity fire
- Improve forest conditions to promote a resilient forest structure, increase water availability, and accelerate carbon sequestration
- Restore a more natural tree species composition and density, which has been altered due to fire suppression and historic logging activities
- Promote a mature forest by reforesting areas of the property that have been severely impacted by high-severity wildfire to promote a mature forest
- Reintroduce fire through carefully applied prescribed burning and set conditions to allow for the repeated application of fire.
- Reintroduce Indigenous practices with a focus on forest and vegetation stewardship. Facilitate cultural burns that focus on fuel reduction, cultural plants and resources cultivation, and creating a ceremonial space for regional tribes.
This forest restoration work is carefully guided by the best available science. The League is also collaborating closely with tribal partners, particularly the Tule River Tribe, to incorporate Traditional Ecological Knowledge into our practices. The League has hired a tribal liaison and site monitor to provide on-the-ground feedback on restoration and stewardship practices and organize cultural burn events at Alder Creek.
Funding for this project has been provided by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, an agency of the State of California.
Sequoia stewardship and wildfire recovery at Alder Creek are part of the League’s efforts to build healthier, more resilient forests across the redwood range. Your contributions to the Redwood Resilience Fund are an investment this future.
The tomorrow we want? It begins by taking action today.
Tags: Alder Creek