Meet the Giant Sequoia, the ‘Super Tree’ Built to Withstand Fire

Mariposa Grove has recently been threatened by the Washburn Fire, which began on July 7 and has burned through more than 4,000 acres of forest. The Mariposa trees have so far escaped the fate of Alder Creek Grove, another stand of sequoias in the Giant Sequoia National Monument that was scorched during the Castle Fire in 2020. Almost all of the trees in the most intense part of the fire perished—amounting to the loss of 10 to 14 percent of all living giant sequoias. There is concern that more of these towering giants could meet the same fate, with wildfires increasingly amplified by rising temperatures and decades of fire suppression that have allowed branches, leaves and other fuel to build up.