By using fire to help manage giant sequoia groves in the western Sierra Nevada, the only place on Earth where they grow naturally, foresters believe the public will not only see the value of controlled burning but also be willing to compromise on environmental concerns. And cutting the risk of giant conflagrations that threaten lives and property has become an urgent public safety issue throughout the West as urban development nudges up against forests. But it's still largely misunderstood by the general public. The public sees smoke in the air and thinks it's a bad thing. But to a giant sequoia, among the biggest and oldest living things, fire is critical to perpetuating the species.
Fire creates openings in the forest canopy that allow sun-loving seedlings to thrive.
With fires suppressed during most of the century, sequoias simply didn't reproduce, except in a few places where logging had cleared openings. Practically no new seedlings took root. That alarming observation, that an entire generation of sequoia reproduction had been lost, sparked a research frenzy. The result was a 30-year learning curve that reshaped fire policy. By the mid-1960s, scientists knew that the trees needed fire, but when they set off controlled burns in sequoia groves, no seedlings came up.