The fire in California's Yosemite National Park may benefit some of the world's oldest giant sequoias by helping release seeds and clear debris from the forest floor, preventing more severe blazes that could wipe out many of the massive trees, an official said on Tuesday.
The fire started on Thursday in the park's Mariposa Grove, home to more than 500 mature giant sequoias, the largest tree species by mass. The trees have survived thousands of years despite regular fires touched off by lightning.
Drought-fueled blazes in California's Sierra Nevada range, the giant sequoia's natural habitat, have wiped out up to 20% of the tree's population in recent years, according to biologists. The Washburn blaze mimicked natural fires that for millennia have produced enough heat to open cones without burning through the sequoias' thick bark. In the process, soil is enriched with nitrogen from burned wood.
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