California has lost over 1,760 square miles—nearly 7%—of its tree cover since 1985, according to a recent study.
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Dead pines, firs, and cedars stretch as far as the eye can see. Fire burned so hot that soil was still barren in places more than a year later. Granite boulders were charred and flaked from the inferno. Long, narrow indentations marked the graves of fallen logs that vanished in smoke.
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After wildfires in 2020 and 2021 wiped out up to about a fifth of all giant sequoias — once considered almost fireproof — the National Park Service last week embarked on a controversial project to help the mighty trees recover with its largest planting of seedlings a single grove.
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archive link: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/wJQT6
Federal policy has to change first, because most of California’s forests are on federal land and subject to federal management practices.