Partial Yosemite Closure: Fire Approaching Iconic Mariposa Grove Of Giant Sequoias

[hatrack]

Please note second article: between 13% and 19% of all large sequoias - 4 meters or more in diameter - have already been killed by fire in just two years.

Yosemite national park has been partially closed as firefighters try to contain a wildfire that has now stretched across more than 60 acres. The Washburn fire is burning near the southern portion of the park, Mariposa Grove, which is home to more than 500 mature giant sequoias in the park, officials said. “The Mariposa Grove is closed until further notice,” reads a post from the park’s Facebook page. “All other areas of Yosemite national park are open.” The park in California had not previously closed in the summer since 1988.

Scientists agree that climate change is one of the most significant threats national parks face. A 2018 study found that national parks are warming at twice the rate of other areas of the country, and suffer disproportionate damage from climate change.

“Every single one of our national parks is suffering from the effects of climate change, from record-breaking wildfires and droughts to rising sea levels and the destruction of cultural resources,” wrote Stephanie Kodish, the director of the climate change program at the National Parks Conservation Association, in a blogpost in June.

The recent events in Yosemite also come after the supreme court limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to cut planet-heating emissions. The ruling, issued in June, established that the US government could not use its existing powers to phase out coal-fired power generation without congressional authorization.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/08/california-wildfire-yosemite-national-park-partial-closure

LOS ANGELES — Lightning-sparked wildfires killed thousands of giant sequoias this year, adding to a staggering two-year death toll that accounts for up to nearly a fifth of Earth’s largest trees, officials said Friday.

Fires in Sequoia National Park and the surrounding national forest that also bears the trees’ name tore through more than a third of groves in California and torched an estimated 2,261 and 3,637 sequoias, which are the largest trees by volume. Fires in the same area last year killed an unprecedented 7,500 to 10,400 of the 75,000 trees that are only native in about 70 groves scattered along the western side of the Sierra Nevada range.

Intense fires that burned hot enough and high enough to kill so many giant sequoias — trees once considered nearly fire-proof — put an exclamation point on the impact of climate change. The combination of a warming planet that has created hotter droughts and a century of fire suppression that choked forests with thick undergrowth have fueled blazes that have sounded the death knell for trees that date back to ancient civilizations.

“The sobering reality is that we have seen another huge loss within a finite population of these iconic trees that are irreplaceable in many lifetimes,” said Clay Jordan, superintendent of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. “As spectacular as these trees are we really can’t take them for granted. To ensure that they’re around for our kids and grandkids and great grandkids, some action is necessary.”

EDIT

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/thousands-giant-sequoias-killed-california-wildfires-rcna6182

[usonian]

1. PG&E webcam caught it yesterday. July 7

Image courtesy PG&E. Capture mine.
Not a cloud in the area to cause lightning.

Persists. July 8.

[hatrack]

2. You sig line made me laugh - thank you!!

[usonian]

3. Woe be gone but not forgotten.

So happy when life hands me a joke on a silver platter.



What could possibly go wrong?