Rare Torrey pines faring worse than expected after Santa Rosa Island fire: 'Heartbreaking'

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Set us as preferred When the largest fire recorded in the history of Channel Islands National Park erupted on Santa Rosa Island in May, observers feared for the park’s rare Torrey pines.On Tuesday, the National Park Service released grim news: Up to 80% of the grove’s trees could die as a result of the fire, which burned nearly 40% of the 18,000-acre island from May 15 to June 4.The Torrey pine is among the rarest species of pine trees in the world, according to the National Park Service.It grows naturally in only two known locations: Santa Rosa Island and Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in La Jolla.

Climate & Environment A destructive wildfire burned through a third of Santa Rosa Island.For one reporter, the loss isn’t theoretical — it’s a personal reckoning with a changing paradise.The grove on Santa Rosa Island, which sits about 26 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, is a genetically distinct subspecies that occurs nowhere else on Earth.

More than 24,000 Torrey pines were recorded on Santa Rosa in the most recent survey in 2014, the park service said, including 3,000 mature, cone-producing trees.Ignited by a shipwrecked sailor’s emergency flare, the fire was first reported on the island’s southwestern coast in the early morning hours of May 15.Because the fire was burning at a low intensity when it tore through the grove area three days later, park officials were initially hopeful that damage to the trees would be limited.In the immediate aftermath of the blaze, the grove appeared intact.

But subsequent investigation found that 60% to 80% of the grove’s trees were scorched, according to a report released Tuesday from the fire’s Burned Area Emergency Response team.Exposed roots of mature trees sustained heavy damage, and scratch tests on most trees produced no sap — a sign that heat “effectiv...