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NPS Proposes Seeding Of Giant Sequoia To Replace Those Burned By Wildfire

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By NPT Staff - February 23rd, 2022
An aerial image of Board Camp in Sequoia National Park, taken from a helicopter, reveals a forest stand that burned at high intensity during the 2020 Castle Fire, resulting in 100% tree mortality in places.

An aerial image of Board Camp in Sequoia National Park, taken from a helicopter, reveals a forest stand that burned at high intensity during the 2020 Castle Fire, resulting in 100% tree mortality in places/NPS file

The destruction of nearly 10 percent of the country's giant sequoia groves to a 2020 wildfire has the National Park Service proposing to plant sequoia seedlings in areas of Sequoia National Park in California that sustained the greatest losses.

The 2020 Castle Fire burned through 22 giant sequoia groves and burned 9.7 percent of the entire range of giant sequoias at high severity, according to the Park Service. In particular, three giant sequoia groves within Sequoia National Park [Board Camp, Upper Dillonwood, and Homer’s Nose] sustained contiguous acres of high severity fire that removed 75-100 percent of the overstory tree cover and killed a significant amount of monarch sequoia trees.

The grove most heavily impacted was Board Camp Grove, a 48-acre tract of giant sequoia and mixed conifer forest in steep remote wilderness within Sequoia National Park. Due to the loss of mature overstory sequoia trees in this grove and the short dispersal distance of sequoia seeds (600 feet), the Park Service believes Board Camp Grove has a very low likelihood of recovering giant sequoia tree cover without management intervention.

In order to give sequoias the opportunity to re-establish to a similar density within these centuries old groves, the NPS is proposing to plant sequoia seedlings in Board Camp Grove as a pilot project in fall 2022. While most of these seedlings would be grown from sequoia cones collected from Board Camp and nearby groves, a small number of seedlings from seed collections held by a U.S. Forest Service nursery in Placerville, California, would be planted in a select area to test for potential benefits of including drought-adapted sequoia seedlings.

The proposed action includes growing sequoia seedlings from collected seed, transporting the seedlings to the remote Board Camp Grove via helicopter, and planting 12,000 sequoia seedlings in the fall, just prior to winter precipitation. Given the location, roughly seven miles off-trail in remote wilderness, watering and post-planting care is not planned at this time. Seedlings would be monitored for percent of survivorship the following fall, and if deemed successful, the NPS would consider planting additional seedlings the following year. The NPS anticipates that planting would occur in October 2022 and may occur again in 2023.

To obtain supplemental information about the proposed project, or to provide comments, visit the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment website.

Written comments may be sent via mail or hand-delivery to:

Superintendent Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Attn: Board Camp Restoration Project
47050 Generals Highway
Three Rivers, CA 93271

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