The U.S. Forest Service announced Friday it's taking emergency action to save giant sequoias by speeding up projects that could start within weeks to clear underbrush to protect the world’s largest trees from the increasing threat of wildfires.
The trees, the world’s largest by volume, are under threat like never before. More than a century of aggressive fire suppression has left forests choked with dense vegetation, downed logs and millions of dead trees killed by bark beetles that have fanned raging infernos intensified by drought and exacerbated by climate change.
The Save Our Sequoias Act, which also includes a provision to speed up environmental reviews like the forest service plan, was recently introduced by a bipartisan group of congressmen including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, whose district includes sequoias. Work planned to begin as soon as this summer in 12 groves spread across the Sequoia National Forest and Sierra National Forest in would cost $21 million to remove so-called ladder fuels made up of brush, dead wood and smaller trees that allow fires to spread upward and torch the canopies of the sequoias that can exceed 300 feet in height.
“Fast-tracking thinning fails to consider that roadways and logged areas ... allows wind-driven fires because of greater airflow caused by the opening in the canopy, which increases wildfire speed and intensity,” he said. The mighty sequoia, protected by thick bark and with its foliage typically high above the flames, was once considered nearly inflammable.
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