In August 2020, wildfire burned almost the entire Big Basin Redwoods state park in California, scorching ancient redwood trees, some dating back more than 1,500 years and among the tallest living things on Earth.
Redwoods are naturally fire resistant thanks to their thick bark, but the wildfire was so intense and flames so high the trees’ foliage was destroyed, even in tree canopies more than 300ft high.
It was feared the redwoods would never recover, but a few months later something incredible happened – many of the trees began sprouting tiny leaf needles from blackened trunks and branches, and two years later the forest had turned green.
Much of this fresh growth sprouted from buds under the bark and also deep inside the trees, some buds having lain dormant for more than 1,000 years.
When researchers covered the sprouting buds to stop them photosynthesising, they still grew. The buds were tapping into stored sugars and radiocarbon dating revealed these […]
The only people who feared the mighty redwoods would never recover are those who’ve spent absolutely no time whatsoever looking at them. I spent the last 40 years living among some of the giants, in the Santa Cruz mountains of the SF Bay Area, hearing them crashing down in storms and seeing the damage just one branch has done to cars and homes beneath them.
My most revered redwood was at the top of my street where I’d stop to gaze up to where a storm took off it’s tip. But, mostly, I marveled at the charred and new bark growth on it’s ancient trunk. I told the tree how beautiful it is and thanked it for not being cut down when the area was heavily logged over 100 years ago.
What a sad piece of journalism when a reporter writes about what they do not know.