Fire in the West

I just heard on the six o'clock news that the fire is moving away from the trees (sequoias). A spokesman for the forest service said that the trees had likely been through over one hundred fires. They estimate some to be nearly three thousand years old. I would guess they've seen more that a few fires. In fact, the fires are beneficial in that they open the cones to release seeds and prepare the soil to receive them. Chainsaws are much more dangerous to these trees than fire.
Tied in,
Jesse
 
Most Giant Sequoias have blackened sections on their trunks from past fires. I was pretty surprised to see the Forest Service is trying to "protect" the sequoias from the fire.

k
 
Today an article in the local news answered my question. It said the trunks can easily withstand fire, but if nearby trees burn the fire can sometimes jump from them into teh sequoia's upper canopy, which is devastating to the tree. I won't guarantee teh accuracy (I once read an article about sequioas in which the author assumed the giant pine cone he saw came from sequoias, and reported it as such), but that's what they said.

keith
 

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