California's epic fires did more than burn 4 million acres. They took devastating aim at the state's defining trees - redwoods, sequoias, Joshua trees, already in short supply. Privileged to tell this story, with dazzling visuals from our NYT wizards. 1/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/09/climate/redwood-sequoia-tree-fire.html

These are the species that attract crowds from around the world. They are the ones with national parks named in their honor. What they have in common, mostly, is an ability to stand there and elicit a reaction -- a gasp, a giggle. Enchantment is both scientific and spiritual. 2/

But 2020's fires destroyed many old-growth redwoods, thousands of ancient sequoias, a million Joshua trees. Photographer Max Whittaker and I traveled into the most severe burns with experts. Climate change has been a growing concern for years; 2020 was an exclamation point. 3/

Take the Joshua tree, the kooky star of the Mojave. We don't always think of wildfires rampaging across the desert, but we do now. In two days, the densest stand lost an estimated 1.3 million Joshua trees in wind-fueled firenados. Dead skeletons stretch to the horizon. 4/

In the Sierra Nevada, sequoias, the world's biggest trees, can live almost forever. Today's massive fires change the equation. A third of the remaining habitat burned just this year.
“They are literally irreplaceable," a scientist said. "Unless you have 2,000 years to wait.” 5/

Coast redwoods, the world's tallest trees, were butchered by humans for years, and only 5 percent of old-growth forests remain. New redwoods regenerate better than the other two species, but 2020 wiped out lots of the old ones, discoloring once-lush forests. 6/

The question that overwhelms you in these places is what we have lost, and what we have left to lose. As I wrote, "These losses are not something to be measured in mere acres. These are not mere numbers, not mere trees." 7/

My thanks to my stellar @nytimes friends and colleagues for giving this story love and space. Thanks to all scientists who shared their time, expertise and emotion. And thanks to readers willing to tag along to these incredible corners of California. 8/