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<\/a> <\/p>\nPhoto by Claudia Beymer: In this photo, if you look closely, you will see highly flammable dead trees still standing, large clusters of \u201cladder trees\u201d that can catapult fire into the crowns of giant sequoias and should be thinned, and fallen tree trunks that need to be removed. It also illustrates the dense understory. The Association believes the condition of the forest has become so dire, that there should be a massive cleanup of the entire park before the planned prescribed burn this Spring.<\/p>\n
Photo by Alan Beymer: As crews conduct a \u201cpile burn\u201d, the dire condition of the Park is evident by the density of dead, combustible fuels on the ground and dense overgrowth \u2013 a landscape primed for fire by the warming climate. The Association has called for the state to urgently bring in \u201ca cavalry of forest crews\u201d this winter to reduce the massive build-up of fuels that \u201cwill surely devastate our giant sequoia groves in a catastrophic fire.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAs a result of decades of fire suppression followed by limited periodic controlled burning, there has been an excessive, unnatural accumulation of fuel over the years,\u201d said Dr. Vida Kenk, President of the Calaveras\u00a0Big\u00a0Trees\u00a0Association (CBTA).\u00a0 \u201cIt will surely devastate our precious giant sequoia groves in a catastrophic fire.\u201d<\/p>\n Calaveras\u00a0Big\u00a0Trees\u00a0State Park is unique \u2013 it is the only state park in California that protects giant sequoias. The Association is the non-profit partner of the Park that raises funds to support the Park\u2019s educational and interpretive programs.<\/p>\n Pointing to wildfires over the past 18 months that destroyed up to 19 percent of the total population of giant sequoias, all of which live in California, Dr. Kenk, said: \u201cWe must act now – not wait until spring or summer or beyond – to significantly reduce the fire accelerants in the Park if we want to save two of the last giant sequoia groves in the world untouched by fire \u2013 as well as our mountain resort communities around them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFire scientists say that what stopped the fires in their tracks in the Sequoia National Park and Calder fires near South Lake Tahoe was coming up to a healthy part of the forest where it had been carefully managed, thinned and all the dry vegetation removed.\u00a0 That\u2019s a teaching lesson \u2013 and why it\u2019s imperative the state act with urgency to use the next few months to get Calaveras\u00a0Big\u00a0Trees\u00a0in fighting form.\u201d<\/p>\n While the recent $7 million state wildfire resilience fund allocation to DPR\u2019s Central District for prescribed burns and fuel reduction over the next five years is a significant step, Dr. Kenk said the talented but small California State Park District fire planning staff does not have sufficient resources to prepare for rapid action at this time. \u201cOur state no longer has a predictable \u2018wildfire season\u2019 \u2013\u00a0fires strike at any time.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this area, wildfire is not a question of \u2018if, but when\u2019. Our beloved local state Park lacks year-around personnel, such as a park forester and a year-around crew, to manage the Park\u2019s forest.\u00a0 If there were appropriate resources, the upcoming winter and spring months could be used to reduce wildfire intensity by thinning forest density, removing dead wood, limbing up large live\u00a0trees, felling the smaller climbers that can spread fire to and devastate the crowns of giant sequoias, cutting back the messy understory of bushes and\u00a0trees\u00a0\u2013 and removing all the tinder-dry vegetation that will turn any wildfire into a conflagration,\u201d Dr. Kenk said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Park hasn\u2019t seen significant fire in over 100 years and is ripe for a major wildfire. We cannot wait for the state to execute a five-year plan.\u00a0We need to act now to get ahead of a fire.\u00a0We need to immediately mobilize a cavalry of forest crews to restore an ecologically healthy forest. Don\u2019t wait to act until there is a four-alarm wildfire here.\u00a0 The time to prepare is NOW.\u201d<\/p>\n In the resolution by the CBTA board \u2013 many of whom reside in small adjacent mountain towns of\u00a0Arnold\u00a0and Murphys \u2013 the Association urged Armando Quintero, Director of California State Parks, to designate the local Park as a top priority and immediately act to reduce the vast build-up of hazardous fuels \u201cbecause the fire\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n The Board resolution also cautioned that the work must be done before pile burning or the state\u2019s next planned prescribed burn in the Spring.\u00a0\u201cCalifornia needs to mirror the federal approach of clearing the sequoia forests of fuels,\u00a0followed\u00a0by periodic controlled burns to keep them healthy and fire resilient. This is not a one-time effort, but must be consistently maintained in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Calaveras\u00a0Big\u00a0Trees\u00a0State Park preserves two groups of giant sequoias in its North and South Groves. It is the site of the beloved and internationally acclaimed Pioneer Cabin\u00a0Tree\u00a0that fell in a 2017 winter storm. Some of its giant sequoias may be two thousand years old. The Park is the oldest continuously operated tourist destination in California, dating back to 1852.<\/p>\n Its year-around recreation opportunities attract 250,000 visitors a year to the small rural, mountain community of Arnold, making it the jewel of the local resort community since it became a state park in 1931.<\/p>\n About Calaveras\u00a0Big\u00a0Trees\u00a0Association<\/p>\n The Calaveras\u00a0Big\u00a0Trees\u00a0Association is the non-profit 501c3 partner of Calaveras\u00a0Big\u00a0Trees\u00a0State Park.\u00a0 It raises funds for educational and interpretive programs at the Park through memberships and donors.\u00a0 It supports the \u201cBuses to\u00a0Big\u00a0Trees\u201d program to bring fifth grade students from underserved areas to the Park, student scholarships, seasonal Park aides, summer interns, park docent supplies, the PORTS program that brings the Park virtually to classrooms, the California Naturalist Program, as well as staffing the store in the Visitor Center at the Park.\u00a0\u00a0www.bigtrees,org<\/a> Arnold, CA…Calling the condition of Calaveras Big\u00a0Trees\u00a0State Park \u201cdire\u201d,the Calaveras\u00a0Big\u00a0Trees\u00a0Association today called on the head of California\u2019s state parks to\u00a0immediately mobilize \u201ca cavalry of forest crews\u201d to rid the 6500-acre park of a massive build-up of dense, dry vegetation. Photo by Claudia Beymer: In this photo, if you look closely, you will see highly flammable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,22,20,5,4,18,1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arnold","category-bear-valley","category-featured","category-government","category-life-style","category-murphys","category-news","category-traffic-fire","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Big-Trees-Overgrown-Trail-Photo-1-by-Claudia-Beymer.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135644,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135639\/revisions\/135644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/135642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n
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