Record California Drought May be Killing Giant Sequoias

The California drought is still impacting the state in some major ways. Now, researchers have announced that millennia-old sequoias may be in danger due to the ongoing drought conditions.

The giant sequoias in Sierra Nevada are one of America's treasures. However, the trees are now showing visible signs of exhaustion due to the ongoing drought. In fact, a scientist on a hike last summer noticed that the needles of the giant sequoias were browning and more sparse than usual.

This is what prompted researchers to lead fieldwork to monitor how stressed the trees have been, and if park managers should be worried about their longevity. During the survey of trees, Anthony Ambrose, a tree ecologist at the University of California Berkeley, collected a number of samples from over 40 sequoia trees that dropped most of their leaves.

"The good news is that there were lots of trees that still seem healthy, but there was this smaller amount that seemed to be stressed-and stressed in ways that we haven't seen documented before in the parks," said Koren Nydick, the study's lead scientist, in an interview with NPR.

The researchers plan to assess the water status of the trees and see whether or not there's truly cause to worry. Because some of the sequoias are over 3,000 years old, they've experienced and survived droughts before. However, the current drought in California is still major, which is why it's important to continue to monitor it.

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