NASA Study Confirms Controlled Burns Save Giant Sequoias From Megafires

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Staff Report –

The best defense for the largest trees on Earth turns out to be a little fire before the big one arrives. A new NASA-funded study found that giant sequoias were nearly four times more likely to survive extreme wildfires in forests that had been managed with prescribed burns.

NASA Science published the findings, which drew on data from 26,403 giant sequoias across 19 groves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks following the devastating 2020 and 2021 fire seasons. Those fires killed roughly 19 percent of the mature sequoias in the study area, a staggering loss for a species that had rarely died in fire before.

The numbers behind the headline are striking. Groves treated with prescribed fire within the previous decade saw mortality odds drop by 77 percent. Controlled burns clear out underbrush, dead wood, and dry fuels, robbing extreme wildfires of the ladder they need to climb into the canopy.

Researchers combined lidar, stem maps, high-resolution imagery, and modeling to reach conclusions that, until now, had rested mostly on anecdotal evidence. The approach could guide protection efforts for old-growth forests worldwide.

Giant sequoias grow naturally in just one place, the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, where they can top 300 feet and stretch 30 feet across. Losing them is not an option.

The findings echo recent Stanford research showing prescribed burns deliver ecological benefits well beyond fire prevention. The takeaway keeps getting clearer: good fire prevents catastrophic fire.

Reporting by ActiveNorcal.

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