cbs s charlie de mar shows how scientists are trying to save the threatened western woods by sewing seeds? morning michigan. as fires and drought fueled by climate change threaten the majestic sequoias and redwoods that have lived for thousands of years in california what s growing in this out of the way greenhouse in northern michigan could help save the species. what is the goal? the real goal for me is to protect and problem gate as many species as we can. reporter: the team at the archangel ancient tree archives are in a race against climate change and the toll it s taking on ancient trees. they collect samples from sequoias and redwoods, clone them, then replant them in places that need to be reforested. the castle fire in 2020 ripped through the southern sierra nevadas claiming an estimated 10% of the world s largest sequoias and one of the largest redwoods left in california
they are stuff. almost nothing can kill them. but climate change is killing that. shrinking the giant sequoias footprint. a giant sequoia that was first weakened by drought was then subject to impacts by the bark beetle which then further weakened the tree and potentially made it more susceptible to fire. reporter: said to be the fifth largest tree in the entire world, it s lived more than 3,000 years. and yet, we are seeing wildfire is threatening these giant sequoias more than ever before. the castle fire was a wake-up call. an estimated 7,500 to 10,600 trees were destroyed in that one fire alone. reporter: started by lightning in august 2020, the castle fire was part of the sequoia complex that burned more than 174,000 acres, scorching several sequoia groves.
it was devastating, heartbreaking. everything had been incinerated. it was a field of the world s largest burned-up toothpicks. reporter: after decades of suppressing forest fire, other trees and brush have grown rampantly around the sequoias. the fires that used to burn every five to ten years in the sierra would just keep down the competition, and reduce the fuel naturally. reporter: on land owned by the save the redwoods league, we hiked out to see just how deadly the castle fire was here. for us to see 10 to 14% of the total of giant sequoias alive, killed in one year, in one fire, is there s nothing to compare that to. reporter: yet, fire, in and of itself, is not the enemy of the giant sequoia. their cones open up. their seeds start to germinate after a fire. reporter: so near those lost giants where the fire wasn t too intense, small chutes of hope take root.
acres that are not contained. you see how close they are to the forest. that s why we saw scenes like this develop toward the end of last week. officials wrapping the giant trees, which are basically nearly as tall as the statue of liberty. now, of course the forest is home to thousands of trees, and because of the increase in fires that we ve been seeing, they re at greater risk from fires thanks to climate change. prior to that, they hadn t quite been seeing so many problems with fires. in fact, in 2020, the castle fire killed hundreds of trees in that area. over the weekend, we watched something that we thought was going to be helpful, a co-front moving in. it brought some rain to the pacific northwest, but it also allowed high pressure to develop, and that means an offshore flow. that s not good because those winds will increase, and that is the reason why we have the fire risk danger at the critical level in northern california, not near the sequoia forest area, but still a concer
they re tough. almost nothing can kill them. but climate change is changing that. shrinking the footprint. a giant have a chi ya that was first weakened by drought was then subject to impacts by the bark beetle which then further weakened the tree and potentially made it more susceptible to mortality from fire. the tree is said to be the fifth largest tree in the entire world. it s lived more than 3,000 years. yet, we re seeing that wildfire is threatening these joint sequoias more than ever before. the castle fire was a wakeup call. an estimated 7500 to 10,600 trees were destroyed in that one fire alone. started by lightning in 2020, it burned more than 174,000 acres scorching several out