Giant sequoias towering 50 feet or more (comparable to standing at the base of the White House) have shrunk dramatically in California over the past 70 years. The Sierra Nevada underwent unprecedented droughts that accelerated the development of irrigation systems into the forests. With irrigation in place and the ability to grow trees at greater depths, the trees began to die as a result of drought, and other threats, such as insect infestations and fires.
Through the years, officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection have been aware of the impact of the massive acreage of trees burned by some 18,000 wildfires that started during the past 20 years.
But with the death toll of dead and dying trees rising, and the fire hazard increasing for firefighters and the public, the natural resource department is asking for more money to invest in these conservation efforts.
The department has received roughly $300 million a year from the state since 2012 to protect the state’s biggest trees. That money has allowed officials to develop and fund the California Million Tree Initiative and the Million Sycamore Tree Initiative. Last year alone, more than $34 million was spent on projects that protected and stored the sequoias, sycamores and tamaracks.
San Francisco
“I will not accept that nothing can be done, and the ashes of the first and second and third generations of Americans will not be replaced,”
— Sol Sanders, former state senator, following fires in a paper he wrote for The East Bay Express.
Martinez, Calif.
“In northern California, hundreds of acres of California redwood groves have been lost in recent wildfires, but the sheer mortality of these giant trees has been exaggerated in the press. No one has figured out the best ways to save these magnificent trees from wildfire.”