Big news , California . It ’s been confirmed that you have a new record for the highest tree , discovered by happy chance event at a dizzying elevation of 3,858 meters ( 12,657 substructure ) . The Jeffrey pine tree came as something of a surprise to UC Davis Professor Hugh Safford , who spotted the specie while out hiking just for playfulness in California ’s High Sierra .
I estimate sometimes you really do trip up upon discoveries .
This all began in September 2024 , when Safford reached the south slopes of Mount Kaweah inSequoia National Park . There were a few of the common botanical suspects up there , like the foxtail grass true pine and lodgepole true pine , but then came a surprisal .
Behold! The highest tree in California.Image credit: Hugh Safford, UC Davis
“ I think , ‘ What ’s that ? ’ ” say Safford in astatement . “ I take the air over , and it ’s a Jeffrey pine tree ! It made no signified . What is a Jeffrey pine tree doing above 11,500 feet [ 3,505 meters ] ? ”
In case you ’re a little new to Jeffrey true pine joke , these trees are typically determine at much gloomy lift . In fact , this sighting lead the old record by 567 meters ( 1,860 feet ) and comes out higher even that those altitude - bang lodgepole and foxtail pines .
Beyond being a record - breaking sighting , the discovery of a Jeffrey pine is also a critical snapshot into how the changing climate is work California ’s high eyeshade . At such height , changes in temperature can have dramatic effects as snowfall melts , freeing up newfangled real estate upon which trees ’ seeds can burgeon forth .
mood modeling has so far foretell that species attempting to escapeincreasing temperaturesby moving uphill are n’t doing it fast enough , but those models do n’t report for thing like the seeded player dispersal of birds . It could be that this is a previously thankless windowpane of ecologic chance that might explain why trees like Jeff are popping up in unexpected places .
“ I ’m looking at trees exist in habitats where they could n’t before , but they ’re also dying in place they used to live before , ” Safford said . “ They ’re not just contain hand and walk uphill . This crazy leapfrogging of species take exception what we think we sleep together about these organization react as the climate warms . ”
While Safford ’s observation last September comprise just one promenade , it seems reasonably likely that this Jeffrey pine tree is indeed California ’s highest Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree because , to date , none of the six cardinal subalpine forest species have been recorded above 3,668 meter ( 12,034 feet ) . It ’s for this reason that Safford reckons we need to rethink how wesurvey tree .
“ citizenry are n’t marching to the tops of the great deal to see where the tree diagram really are , ” he said . “ Instead , they are relying on satellite imagery , which ca n’t see most pocket-size trees . ”
“ What science does is facilitate us understand how the world functions . In this display case , where you see the shock of mood change most dramatically are at high elevations and high latitudes . If we want our fingerbreadth on the pulse of how the climate is warming and what the impacts are , that ’s where it will be happening first . We just need to get multitude out there . ”
I would wish to link up the HATS ( gamy - Altitude Tree Survey team ) , please .
The work is publish in the journalMadroño .
