When giants fall, we need to listen

“God has cared for these trees …but he cannot save them from fools.”

— John Muir

In just two years, wild re has killed an estimated 13 to 19% of all mature giant sequoia trees. ese most massive of trees grow only on certain western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, the mountain range that divides California’s Central Valley farmland from the Great Basin Desert.

e loss of so many “big trees,” as conservationist John Muir called them, is unprecedented.

Many of the best-known stands of giant sequoias grow more than 6,000 feet above sea level in three national parks — Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite. A visit to these immense trees typically begins with a drive up from Fresno. From the valley oor, Highway 180 curves into foothills, then winds onto steep, tree-covered mountainsides where cooler temperatures and higher humidity take the edge o the California sun.

e road passes through Kings Canyon National Park, where visitors get their rst impression of the big trees. As Muir acknowledged, words aren’t su cient to convey the awe of that rst encounter with giant sequoias: “No description can give anything like an adequate idea of their singular majesty, much less of their beauty.”

He added, “Nothing hurts the big tree.” Except in our time: severe wild re and the chainsaw.

Muir’s words helped inspire the national parks that have protected

Writers On The Range

LUSH

Stanley Gale “Stan” Lush

September 3, 1930 - March 15, 2023 many sequoia groves from logging, but our concern about wild res led to governmentmandated re suppression for more than 100 years. is all-or-nothing proposition is not academic. Kevin Rein, the state water engineer, testi ed that he must shut down all basin wells if compact requirements are not met. e focus is on the Republican’s South Fork, between Wray and Burlington.

BESTRepublican River Basin agriculture ceases altogether. e farmers may need more help as the deadline approaches.

Legislators were told that relying solely upon water that falls from the sky diminishes production 75 to 80 percent.

In seeking this study, the river district wants legislators to be aware of what is at stake.

Rod Lenz, who chairs the river district board, put it in human terms. His extended-family’s 5,000-acre farm amid the sandhills can support 13 families, he told me. Returned to grasslands, that same farm could support only two families.

An “evolution of accountability” is how Lenz describes the big picture in the Republican River Basin. “We all knew it was coming. But it was so far in the future. Well, the future is here now.” e district has 10 committees charged with investigating ways to sustain the basin’s economy and leave its small towns thriving. Can it attract Internet technology developers? Can the remaining water

Joe Stone

rough a federal agency’s zeal, the big trees are in trouble. In the Sierra Madre’s re regime, developed over centuries, sequoia groves burned every 6 to 35 years. Wild re thinned the smaller trees and converted ne fuels into soil nutrients.

Without re, sequoia cones don’t open and spread their seeds. e same re also creates openings in the forest canopy, giving seedlings the sunlight they need to survive. Research shows that giant sequoia populations were “stable or increasing” from 500 B.C. through the 1800s. en came the 1900s, when “there was a massive failure of giant sequoia reproduction.” Without re, sequoia seeds stopped sprouting, while the buildup of highly combustible ne fuels on the forest oor, and the greater density of smaller trees, increased the risk of catastrophic wild re.

As scientists began to understand the problem, the National Park Service implemented a prescribed burning program in giant sequoia

SEE STONE, P10 be used for higher-value purposes? Can new technology irrigate more e ciently? e Republican River shares similarities with the better-known and much larger Colorado River Basin. e mid-20th century was the time of applying human ingenuity to development of water resources. Now, along with past miscalculations, the warming climate is exacting a price, aridi cation of the Colorado River Basin.

“We do know we must evolve,” Lenz told me. e farmers began large-scale pumping with the arrival of center-pivot sprinklers, a technology invented in Colorado in 1940. ey’re remarkably e cient at extracting underground water. Now, they must gure out sustainable agriculture. at’s a very di cult conversation. Aquifers created over millions of years are being depleted in a century.

Globally, the latest report from climate scientists paints an even greater challenge. To avoid really bad stu , they say, we must halve our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. ey insist upon need for new technologies, including ways to suck carbon out of the atmosphere, that have yet to be scaled. We need that evolution of accountability described in Colorado’s Republican River Basin. We need a revolution of accountability on the global scale.

Allen Best, a long-time Colorado journalist, publishes Big Pivots. You can nd more at BigPivots.com

Stan Lush passed away on March 15, 2023 at Wind Crest, Highlands Ranch, CO. He lived in Mount Vernon Country Club from 19732005 where he raised his family and was an active member of Church of the Hills Presbyterian Church. Stan is survived by his wife Karen (Wind Crest), Children: Andi Rottman (Littleton), Pam

Lindquist (Evergreen), Mike Lush (Castle Rock), Pete Lush (Greenwood Village), 12 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. A Celebration of His Life will be held at St. James Presbyterian Church 3601 W. Belleview Ave. Littleton, CO on April 28, 2023 at 10:30 AM.

STEELE Jane Elizabeth (Pinkerton) Steele

August 27, 1942 - March 16, 2023

Jane P. Steele, 80, a loving and caring wife and longtime Evergreen/ Conifer resident died peacefully March 16, 2023 from complications with pneumonia following a fall and surgery. Jane was born in Englewood NJ in 1942 and graduated from Pascack Valley High School in 1960. She attended the Englewood Hospital School of Nursing in NJ and graduated as a Registered Nurse in1963. She worked as RN in Oregon 1964 to 1966 then ended up in Colorado in 1967. She served in various nursing roles in Colorado Springs, Boulder and Denver hospitals from 1967 to 1974, followed by occupational nursing in Denver Metro Industries from 1975 to 1994. After leaving formal nursing, she was the primary caregiver for her mom who passed in 2007.

Jane’s passion was her art. She loved watercolor and oil painting and was a member of several art clubs in the Denver Metro area. Her art was displayed at the

Evergreen Library on several occasions. She also did mission work and helped as a volunteer at Evergreen Christian Outreach (EChO). She was an avid skier and met her husband Richard of 46 years in the Schussbaumer Ski Club of Denver. Her other hobbies and loves were knitting, quilting, sewing and cooking. Richard and Jane were married in Boulder on Oct 9, 1976 and have resided in Conifer and Evergreen ever since. Jane’s brother Jack and her parents John and Dorothy Pinkerton preceded her in death. She is survived by Richard her husband and two of Richard’s brothers, omas and Robert.

A celebration of life service and lunch reception is scheduled 10:00a, April 22, 2023 at the Conifer Community Church, 9998 S.

Memorials can be made to EChO or Mt. Evans Homecare & Hospice in lieu of