If you keep up with the news, you can’t help but hearing about all the wildfires that have been raging through the western US this year. In particular, some of the fires have been moving through lands where California’s oldest trees, including sequoia, redwood, and Joshua trees, live. Many of these old trees have perished in the fires, and it will take thousands of years for them to grow back due to their low growth rates. There are a number of causes of the fires, but one of them is the severe and lengthy drought that has been brought on by very high temperatures and lack of rainfall. The New York Times published a lengthy article that looked at some of these factors and how it is affecting the trees. You can read it here.
