Giant sequoias come as close to immortality as living organisms can. Many live over a thousand years, an almost unimaginable span of survival in the face of all of natureâs challenges.
So it comes as a shock to read that over 10% of all the giant sequoias on Earth - thousands of trees - were killed in last yearâs Castle Fire in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. When the immortals die, we canât deny that we have entered a time of ecological chaos.
For years now, the landscapes of the West have been shifting before our eyes. Familiar ecosystems are becoming ⦠something else. The dead sequoias ask: What will that âsomething elseâ be?