If the giant sequoia is dying out, why are there tens of thousands of seedlings and saplings?

"The new trees number in the thousands - at least 4,000 per acre or as many as 20,000, depending on who is counting. A few rise above head-height, the most energetic sentinels of regeneration. What will become of this nursery in the wild in the next hundred years, or thousand, is the crux of a scientific and policy dispute."

"One vision is bleak: The new crop will dwindle rapidly, leading to a depleted grove and possible extinction due to drought, a warming climate and the fire-enhancing effects of a century of fire suppression. These environmental shifts are altering the delicate balance that has allowed sequoias to thrive for millennia."

The 2021 KNP Complex fire killed nearly all trees across 300 acres of Redwood Mountain Grove in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, the world's largest giant sequoia stand. Thousands of sequoia seedlings and saplings are now growing in the burned area, with densities ranging from 4,000 to 20,000 per acre mixed with post-fire brush. Scientists hold sharply conflicting views about the grove's future recovery. One pessimistic perspective warns that the new generation will decline rapidly due to drought, warming climate, and effects of a century of fire suppression, potentially leading to sequoia extinction. These environmental shifts are altering conditions that allowed sequoias to thrive for millennia.

Read at Los Angeles Times