The KNP Complex of wildfires hit Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks hard/NPS file
Sequoia seedlings will be planted in areas of Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks that suffered severe wildfire burns in 2020 and 2021, the National Park Service announced.
Back in 2020 the Castle Fire alone that roared through Sequoia National Park destroyed an estimated 10 percent of the existing population of giant sequoias. The KNP Complex that burned through the two parks led to evacuation of many communities, closed public lands, and ultimately killed approximately 3-5 percent of the world’s population of mature giant sequoias.
Now the Park Service aims to plant tree seedlings in severely burned giant sequoia groves and adjacent fisher habitat. The agency will begin implementing the plan by completing field surveys and developing, reviewing, approving, and implementing planting activities where needed in these forests.
“This marks an incredible step forward in our post-fire recovery efforts and more importantly, the preservation of iconic giant sequoias and the endangered fisher,” said Clay Jordan, superintendent of the two national parks. “I want to thank the public for engaging in this process through thousands of comments during this process, demonstrating just how passionate and committed people are about preserving these forests for generations to come.”
Getting to this stage involved gathering information on the proposed action in the spring of 2022 and 2023, tribal and agency consultation, and most recently, the development and public review of an environmental assessment. All comments received during this planning effort informed the parks’ final decision on how to address the loss of forest cover and sequoias in areas of high severity fire while minimizing impacts to natural, cultural, and wilderness resources, and the visitor experience.
The goal of the selected approach, identified as the preferred alternative in the environment assessment prepared on the plan, is to point these groves and critical habitat toward recovery of their pre-fire forest species compositions, as they would have done naturally had they not experienced human-caused severe fire effects during recent fires. To do so, the parks have been and will continue to evaluate whether or not several areas in Sequoia and Kings Canyon are likely to fully recover post-fire without assistance.
The evaluation process involves field surveys to identify whether or not regeneration is likely sufficient to restore these forests to a self-sustaining population. If these area-wide field surveys indicate high mature tree mortality and inadequate regeneration, planting of sequoia and mixed conifer seedlings could occur in portions of up to six giant sequoia groves and one adjacent fisher habitat corridor across roughly 1,200 acres of previously forested areas. Planting plans, informed by site-specific evaluations and analyses, will determine final acreage and specific locations of any planting actions.
In anticipation of this decision, the Park Service has been actively working on data collection and analysis. Based on a model of decisions and their possible consequences that was provided in the EA, the parks have developed and are currently reviewing replanting efforts at Redwood Mountain Grove and Board Camp Grove. The parks anticipate approving these plans in the coming days, with work beginning shortly thereafter to complete as much work as possible ahead of winter.
The FONSI and supporting documentation, including a revised EA and response to public comments, is available on the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment website at this page. This is also where the public can stay up to date with replanting efforts for each area, including data analysis and work plans.
As of October 5, 2023, the NPS is planning the following within each of the 7 areas considered for planting within this plan:
Redwood Mountain Grove and adjacent proposed fisher critical habitat corridor: Field surveys were completed in 2022 and 2023 and indicate that natural regeneration is likely insufficient to support a self-sustaining population of sequoias within the Grove; regeneration is also very low in the adjacent proposed fisher critical habitat corridor. A planting plan has therefore been developed and additional compliance and consultations are underway. Planting could begin in October 2023.
Board Camp Grove: Field surveys were completed in 2022 and indicate that natural regeneration is likely insufficient to support a self-sustaining population of sequoias. A planting plan has therefore been developed and additional compliance and consultations are underway. Planting could begin in October 2023.
Suwanee Grove: Field surveys were completed in 2022 and 2023 and mortality rates and natural regeneration are being evaluated.
New Oriole Lake Grove: Field surveys were completed in 2022 and 2023 and mortality rates and natural regeneration are being evaluated.
Homer's Nose Grove: Field surveys are planned for fall 2023.
Dillonwood Grove: Field surveys were completed in 2023 and mortality rates and natural regeneration are being evaluated.
Comments
Here's a different take on this story: Park management was given $17 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars annually to perform their role as stewards of these parks to "preserve unimpaired the natural ...resources ...for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations." They knew intimately the annual summer fire danger for these groves, particularly during these drought-stricken years.
However, unlike the popular park roadside sequoia groves, they used little to none of that annual funding to perform adequate fire mitigation activities in these less popular sequoia groves. They failed miserably in their stewardship responsibilities. Now, neither this generation nor future generations will be able to enjoy these groves. And, of course, no one was held accountable. Instead park management uses this feel-good story to try to deflect attention away from their massive failure.
Undoubtedly, the parks law enforcement and maintenance divisions will continue to receive the lion share of the annual taxpayer funding while the undersized resource management division fights for scraps that fall from the funding table.
They failed miserably in their stewardship responsibilities. Now, neither this generation nor future generations will be able to enjoy these groves. And, of course, no one was held accountable.
Thank you for your views.
The sad part is that this catastrophe was predicted to occur 50 years ago in the initial research on giant sequoia fire ecology. Fifty years passed, and after initial Redwood Mountain prescribed fires in the 1970's, little else was done, for a variety of reasons, but the threat remained and grew. Same for the backcountry groves which burned severely due to an absence of prescribed fire, other than in Garfield Grove. Contrast what happened to the Redwood Mountain Grove with Giant Forest, which has received multiple prescribed fires since the 1980's and survived the wildfire. Many reasons for the failure to treat the groves, funding perhaps among the least significant. So, replanting the groves is the next step which, based on the lack of success the Forest Service has had in protecting young plantations from subsequent wildfire, is certainly a long shot.
Certainly the loss of Sequoias is a tragedy. Fire suppreFssion over the last hundred years was bad policy exacerbated by drought. But I disagree on the funding allotment mentioned before. Maintenance is a huge budget item but can't keep up with old structures and overwhelming visitation. Law enforcement is chronically short. As a former NPS employee, I've seen the development of resource management departments increase enormously over the last 30 years (granted, started from nothing) and they are now driving the bus.
The fire problem is bigger than all of us.