Redwood Tree Bark Thickness and Fire Resistance

Older Redwood trees are able to survive wildfires because their bark is over one foot thick. 95% of California redwood trees were logged. Most of the trees are 10 to 100 years old. They tend to average a little less than 2 inches of bark.

Younger redwoods, especially less than 20 years old, burn easily because their bark is too thin.

A survey of Redwood Tree Bark thickness was in a journal article.

Forest Journal – Bark Thickness in Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D.Don) Endl.) Varies According to Tree- and Crown Size, Stand Structure, Latitude and Genotype by John-Pascal Berrill, Kevin L. O’Hara and Nickolas E. Kicha published June 2020.

Droughts can reduce the water content in redwoods and other trees which make all of them more vulnerable to fire.

SOURCES- Journal Forest, University of Wisconson Tree Science blog
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

11 thoughts on “Redwood Tree Bark Thickness and Fire Resistance”

  1. Thats dumb. Literally what they did for decades before they cut it as cost cutting and for environmentalist. (the dumb ones)

  2. Yeah its the indiscriminate logging, rather than targeted logging with deep understanding of forest dynamics.

  3. I know for some plants, maturity is faster with higher C02. I wonder if true for most trees and if so, can we artifically mature them (fire resistance) faster?

  4. GMO supertrees. With the non-rotting wood of Huon Pine, the ability to grow in salt water of mangrove, the size of, no…. ten times the size of, sequoias, and the growth rate of Kudzu.

  5. Allow the detritus to accumulate upon the forest floor for decades by not allowing small frequent fire to remove a bit at a time, only to be eventually consumed altogether in a forest killing firestorm.

  6. People shouldn’t listen to donkeys with hats, bears with hats are ok. Controlled burning != careless idiots starting forest fires.

  7. “Giant sequoias can grow to be about 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter and more than 250 feet (76 m) tall.” Reminds me of Starship!

  8. Don’t listen to the bear with a hat. Burn the low brush fuel on the ground frequently. The locals before the Californios kept the land as a game park by this practice.

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