Implementation: Homer's Nose Grove


Post-fire field surveys in 2023 found 92.3% mortality of large sequoias within the area of Homers Nose Grove that burned at high-severity in the 2020 Castle Fire (data from Soderberg and Das 2023). The 2023 survey data from Homers Nose Grove also found an estimated mean of 68 sequoia seedlings/acre, equating to a 0.4% probability of being equivalent to the third-year seedling densities determined by Stephenson et al. 2024 (data from Soderberg and Das 2023; likelihood analysis NPS 2024 following protocol of Soderberg et al 2024).

Field data from 2023 is available at: Soderberg, D.N., and Das, A.J., 2023, Assessment of giant sequoia mortality and regeneration within burned groves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks (ver. 2.0, January 2024): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P96Z1PBK. This data was collected under a field study that was designed and implemented by the National Park Service (NPS), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), United States Forest Service (USFS), and the University of California, Davis. The NPS therefore requests that any use of this data for publication rely on the full data set (i.e., use of a subset of this data is not seen to be appropriate or in keeping with the methods of data collection) and that any user of this data for publication communicate in advance with the scientists who collected the data. The contact information for these scientists can be obtained by emailing SEKI_Superintendent@nps.gov.

Stephenson et al. 2024 and Soderberg et al. 2024 are also available for download below.

Given the above, the NPS developed and approved a planting plan for Homer's Nose Grove in late summer 2024 and plans to initiate a planting effort in mid to late October 2024. The planting plan and approval documents are available below.
 
Document Content:
Soderberg et al 2024.pdf   (7.4 MB, PDF file)
Stephenson et al 2024.pdf   (5.7 MB, PDF file)
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