Scientists Are Racing To Save Sequoias

Short Wave

NPR

Science, Life Sciences, News, Nature, Daily News, Astronomy

4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2021

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Based on early estimates, as many as 10,600 large sequoias were killed in last year's Castle Fire — up to 14% of the entire population. The world's largest trees are one of the most fire-adapted to wildfires on the planet. But climate change is making these fires more extreme than sequoias can handle. It's also worsening drought that is killing other conifer trees that then become a tinder box surrounding the sequoias, reports climate correspondent Lauren Sommer. Scientists warn that giant sequoias are running out of time and they're racing to save them.

Read more of Lauren's reporting on sequoias: https://n.pr/39IX84M

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.2	Hello, Shortwave.
0:07.6	This is Jeff Brumfield, your host today.
0:09.8	And I'm here with our climate correspondent, Lauren Summer.
0:13.0	Hi, Lauren.
0:14.1	Hey.
0:14.8	And today we're headed to the mountains of California,
0:17.8	where you'll find some of the largest living things
0:20.6	on the planet, giant Sequoias.
0:23.2	These massive trees have come under threat
0:25.1	in the latest round of wildfires.
0:27.4	Lauren, how are they holding up?
0:29.6	I have to say, I've seen a lot of tough stuff
0:32.3	as a climate reporter, and I really wasn't ready for this.
0:37.3	I went to Sequoia National Forest, a pretty remote part
0:40.7	of it in the Sierra Nevada.
0:42.5	That is what we would call a real giant Sequoia monarch.
0:47.1	Alexis Bernal was standing next to that monarch,
0:49.9	which is the name given to the largest Sequoias.
0:53.2	She's a research assistant at UC Berkeley.
0:55.4	It's massive.
0:57.1	Jenny, what was the diameter on this tree?
	...

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