In August 2020, wildfire burned almost all of California’s Big Basin Redwoods State Park, scorching ancient redwood treessome dating back more than 1,500 years and among the tallest living things on earth.
Redwoods are naturally fire resistant thanks to their thick bark, but the wildfire was so intense and flames so high that the trees’ foliage was destroyed, even in tree canopies more than 300 feet high.
It was feared that the redwoods would never recover, but a few months later something incredible happened – many of the trees began to sprout small needles from blackened trunks and branches, and two years later the forest turned green.
Much of this fresh growth has sprung from buds under the bark and also deep in the trees, some buds having lain dormant for over 1,000 years.
When researchers covered the sprouts to prevent them from photosynthesizing, they continued to grow. The buttons contained stored sugars and radiocarbon dating revealed that these sugars were stored for up to 21 years, with several stored carbohydrates nearly 60 years old. Thus, the resurrection of the redwoods relied on tapping into old stores of carbon to feed their dormant buds to life.
