Redwoods don’t actually have needles, they have leaves. We call their leaves needles because they’re thin and pointy, but they are indeed leaves, performing all the necessary leafly duties. As it turns out, redwoods even have two distinct kinds of …
With a flash of lightning, a fire ignites naturally near several giant sequoia groves in California’s Sierra Nevada. It’s early August and the overly dense vegetation surrounding some of the sequoias is dry and flammable. The threat of a high-intensity, …
Two new comprehensive research studies published by the USGS Western Ecological Research Center discuss the drastically low number of seedlings found in sequoia groves in the wake of recent mega-fires. Their findings: inadequate natural seedling recovery and high tree mortality rates create a substantial risk of losing portions of sequoia groves.
Understanding how climate change impacts the world’s tallest forest is like assembling an incredibly large jigsaw puzzle; the full picture emerges slowly, one piece at time. But occasionally, a critical piece falls into place…
