Most of the 2,000-year-old redwoods have survived the wildfire in California’s oldest state park

This is good news!

There are hundreds of wildfires burning across the state of California, forcing thousands of people from their homes and destroying countless houses, properties and vegetation. A deadly combination of dry conditions, lightning, high winds and overgrown vegetation contributed to the fires, which started earlier in August.

Along with the loss of human lives, the fires have taken irreplaceable personal items, sentimental objects and precious wildlife. However, there is a glimmer of hope in the burning forests of the Golden State.

On August 24, a reporter and photographer for the Associated Press trekked the Redwood Trail in California’s Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the state’s oldest state park with 18,000 acres. He reported that most of the 2,000-year-old trees survived the flames.

Laura McLendon, conservation director for environmental group Sempervirens Fund, told AP News that the news gives her peace of mind.

Thankfully, earlier reports that the forest was gone were mistaken. That’s not to say no damage has been done: the park’s headquarters, campground infrastructure and numerous small buildings succumbed to the blaze.

“But the forest is not gone,” McLendon told AP News. “It will regrow. Every old growth redwood I’ve ever seen, in Big Basin and other parks, has fire scars on them. They’ve been through multiple fires, possibly worse than this.”

Said to be included in the survivors is a redwood called Mother of the Forest, which used to be the tallest tree in the park at 329 feet. Along with its enormous height, it is known for its tenacity. After a storm broke off the top 50 feet or so, the tree sprouted a new trunk where the old growth had been.

“If a fire is hot enough to consume the entire crown of a tree, in a pine tree, that tree is most likely dead,” Kristen Shive, director of science for Save the Redwoods League, told NPR. “But in redwoods, they have these buds that lie dormant under their bark and they can sprout after the fire.”

While younger redwoods might not fare as well, McLendon notes that the forests are meant to burn.

“The forest, in some ways, is resetting,” she told AP News.

Fallen trees will act as food and shelter for everything from birds and insects to new trees sprouting up.

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