Controlled Burns Have Saved Thousands of Giant Sequoias - Yale E360
Close
← →
Search<br>Search
E360 Digest
July 24, 2026
Controlled Burns Have Saved Thousands of Giant Sequoias
A controlled burn in Sequoia National Park.<br>Anthony Caprio / National Park Service
The use of small, controlled burns to clear out flammable underbrush has saved thousands of giant sequoias from devastating wildfires, new research finds.<br>The largest trees on Earth, sequoias can reach more than 300 feet tall and live for 3,000 years, but they grow only in a narrow band of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, where hotter, drier weather has left forests increasingly prone to wildfires. With their thick bark and high canopies, the trees can withstand small fires, but the more intense blazes seen in a warmer climate have proved deadly for thousands of trees.<br>Together, the 2020 Castle Fire and 2021 KNP Complex Fire killed as many as 13,000 giant sequoias, or close to a fifth of all sequoias. According to the new study, the death count would have been considerably higher without the use of prescribed burns.<br>The new study used aerial and satellite imagery to examine more than 26,000 giant sequoias. It found the trees were roughly four times more likely to survive the Castle and KNP Complex fires if they had been treated with a prescribed burn in the previous decade. In total, prescribed burns saved an estimated 1,900 sequoias, according to the study, published in Nature Communications. Had burns been applied to every tree, the research found, another 3,900 sequoias would have been spared.<br>“If the goal is protecting giant sequoias, prescribed fire is an essential tool available to managers,” said lead author Dan Dixon, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis.<br>One challenge for forest managers is that wildfire season is growing longer, narrowing the window during which prescribed burns can be safely applied. In 2022, a prescribed burn in Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico got out of control, igniting the largest fire in state history. In an autopsy of the fire, U.S. Forest Service chief Randy Moore wrote, “Drought, extreme weather, wind conditions, and unpredictable weather changes are challenging our ability to use prescribed fire as a tool to combat destructive fires.”<br>ALSO ON YALE E360<br>On Controlling Fire, New Lessons from a Deep Indigenous Past
Related Articles
After Decades of Drought, Water Is Rising in the African Sahel
By Fred Pearce
In East Africa, a Controversial Oil Project Is Poised for Production
By Fred Pearce
Efforts to Save Kelp Forests from Ocean Warming Are Ramping Up
By Richard Schiffman
More From E360
Climate
After Decades of Drought, Water Is Rising in the African Sahel
Cities
In Steel Country, the Fight for Clean Air Faces New Obstacles
Solutions
Beyond Lithium: New Battery Tech Starts to Break Through
INTERVIEW
What Do We Actually Know About the Microplastics Inside Us?
Energy
A Home Battery Revolution Is Reshaping the Power Grid
Energy
In East Africa, a Controversial Oil Project Is Poised for Production
Climate
A Missing Piece in Climate Models: Nature’s Own Emissions
INTERVIEW
An EPA Researcher Details the Agency’s Assault on Science
Oceans
Efforts to Save Kelp Forests from Ocean Warming Are Ramping Up
Biodiversity
Pollution Is Changing the Smells of Nature, With Risks for Wildlife
Oceans
Supertrawlers Are Taking Antarctic Krill That Whales Depend On
INTERVIEW
The U.S. Senator Who Won’t Shut Up about Climate Change