Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Conserves Rare Seeds After Wildfire Threatens 1 of World’s Rarest Pines
Updated
Updated · NPR · May 27
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Conserves Rare Seeds After Wildfire Threatens 1 of World’s Rarest Pines
8 articles · Updated · NPR · May 27
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is preserving seeds from rare plants on Santa Rosa Island after a wildfire burned part of the island and threatened one of the world’s rarest pine species.
Heather Schneider said the effort is aimed at safeguarding plant genetics that could be lost if fire damage reduces already tiny wild populations.
Santa Rosa Island, off the California coast, holds highly vulnerable native species, making seed collection a key backup for future restoration and conservation work.
With one plant species potentially wiped out, can science resurrect this fire-ravaged island ecosystem from its ashes?
After a sailor's flare torched a rare island, how can we prevent the next human-caused disaster in a protected paradise?