Forest resilience treatments funded through a $2 million grant from CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program helped to save some of the world’s most iconic trees in one of the world’s most famous national parks. Protecting the ancient, majestic giant sequoias in the largest and most popular of Yosemite’s sequoia groves was an immediate concern for land managers when the Washburn Fire broke out near Mariposa Grove on July 7, 2022. Fortunately, a partnership that includes the Mariposa County Resource Conservation District, the National Park Service and local tribal forest crews had completed the important fuels reduction work that reduced the fire’s severity and helped firefighters protect the invaluable trees. Treatments funded under the Forest Health Program grant included removal of roadside hazard and downed trees, fuels reduction, and transportation of the woody debris to local biomass facilities.

Garrett Dickman, a vegetation ecologist at Yosemite National Park was assigned to the fire and observed its behavior. Reflecting on the grant-funded biomass removal treatments along a key road in the park, he remarked, “Firefighters [were] able to hold the road with minimal [preparation],” and that the fuels reduction work”…[proved] critical in our ability to protect the nearby community of Wawona.” Dickman pointed out that flame heights were a few inches to a just a few feet in treated areas, compared to flames that were tens to hundreds of feet elsewhere. Fire crews were able to use Wawona Road as a fuel break to hold the fire line. “This project has meant the difference for the community and the Grove. I suspect that if Wawona Road was in the state that it was prior to the project, it could be a very different outcome for the Mariposa Grove and the community.”

The Washburn Fire was fully contained on August 3, 2022, at 4,886 acres. Due to the aggressive suppression efforts and the history of ongoing fuel treatments, no loss of giant sequoias or structures occurred.