JEFF FROST (FLAP)SUE CAG;GARTH LENZOn a burnt slope in
the Sierra Nevada,
their only native home,
giant sequoias—some
more than a thousand
years old—stand like
black daggers among
the other dead: white
firs, sugar pines,
incense cedars.
While sequoias can
often survive ground
fires because they
have few low branches,
this fire blew flames
into the crowns. Cli-
mate change and fire
suppression are fueling
bigger wildfires.
FLAP: Embers rain from
the crown of a sequoia
that was ignited by a
windblown ember in- The tree survived.
CALIFORNIA
SEQUOIA NATIONAL FORESTFIRES IN THE PAST
TWO YEARS KILLED UP
TO A FIFTH OF THE
LARGEST SEQUOIAS
PREVIOUS PHOTOStanding nearly 217
feet tall and estimated
to be more than 500
years old, Big Lonely
Doug, on British
Columbia’s Vancou-
ver Island, was saved
in 2011 by a logger
impressed by its size. It
proved to be Canada’s
third largest Douglas
fir, considering its
circumference, height,
and crown size. Old-
growth forests around
the world face bull-
dozers and chain saws,
and climate change
poses new threats:
intensifying wildfires,
beetle attacks, heat,
and drought.