To Measure Drought’s Reach, Researchers Scale The Mighty Sequoia

This notion that the Giant Sequoias could die because of drought has brought together agencies like the National Park Service, UC Berkeley, Stanford, the US Forest Service and others for the first health related study on the Giant Sequoia.

But now, experts are anxious that the prolonged drought may be the cause of the trees’ death.

According to The Huffington Post, the historically resilient trees are beginning to show major signs of distress with some losing up to 75% of their leaves.

Armed with crossbows, Ambrose and his team shoot fishing lines over the limbs of their target trees, the tallest standing more than 290 feet tall.

To know exactly what damage has done and what to expect next, Anthony Ambrose, a tree ecologist at University of California, led a fieldwork. With these features, the trees are believed to have undergone extreme droughts before. During the extreme heat of the summer months, the massive trees, which have been standing for about a millennium, can engulf about 500-800 gallons of water daily.

The giant sequoias in Sierra Nevada are one of America’s treasures. These trees are, in fact, 3,000 years old and have survived many historic droughts in the Golden State but now researchers are concerned that this drought-the one California is struggling through right now-may be the final breaking point.

The California drought is still impacting the state in some major ways.

More than 40 trees were observed stressed due to drought and warm temperatures.

He is planning to analyze about 50 trees which have lost more than three quarters of their leaves and wants to give the data he collects to forest managers, in order to help them prioritize their actions.

California declared a state of emergency after it experienced the driest January on record in 2015.

“I expect that in the really bad areas whole stands of pine trees may no longer be there and you’ll probably a kind of ghost forest”, he said.

Wendy Baxter, another team member in the park, is trying to understand how these sequoias respond to drought conditions. While the snow from the mountains does what it can to make sure these natural wonders thrive, officials are already hard at work on water conservation methods for both the human population and the trees.