Vina Del Mar wildfires devastate Jubaea's in native habitat!

[UK_Palms]

The town of Vina Del Mar in Chile has been devastated by a wildfire that has tore through the stands of native Jubaea Chilensis. Many have been completely incinerated and are just burnt stumps, whereas others have collapsed and disintegrated in the inferno. Very sad given how slow growing they are and the fact that Vina Del Mar has some of the oldest and biggest specimens in the world. Hundreds of houses have also been destroyed and several people have died. A real catastrophe.

The images aren't pretty...

 

The native stand at Vina Del Mar has been devastated...

 

[wimmie]

Growing buds may still be alive?

[UK_Palms]

1 hour ago, wimmie said:

Growing buds may still be alive?

Yes, many that have been badly damaged should pull through, however they will look bad/ugly for a few years now. Some have likely been killed completely though.

The other concern is the Juania Australis in the Botanical Gardens. They have the largest population of Juania outside of Robinson Crusoe Island, I believe, which may have also been lost in the fire now. We still don't know the full extent of the damage yet. It will take years to recover from this however.

[Xerarch]

Wow, amazing shots but that's terrible, about the Juania too

[Tyrone]

That’s just terrible

.Juania wouldn’t stand a chance in fire. One hot bit of sun and they’re done. I have no idea also what the Jubaeas tolerance is to a hot fire. I wonder what started it. Arson, dry lightening?

Another reason to plant Jubaea absolutely everywhere that the climate allows them to grow. Natural stands of palms can be wiped out just like that. 

[kinzyjr]

Very sad to see this happen anywhere, but certainly worse when it is one of your favorite palms species taking the biggest hit.

[Josue Diaz]

Chile's vegetation, like that of other regions with summer dry climates have evolved to live with fire. I wouldn't be surprised if these strands have seen many fires in the span of thousands of years. Canariensis can burn up in a fire and grow out fine given some time, so I'm going to assume most of these will be ok. 

[Tyrone]

I hope no one was killed or injured as the fire took out a residential area.

At a guess this fire will set back that wild population by about a century. I hope it will be helped along in the next few years with efforts to propagate new seedlings from any remaining trees that survive with the area being replanted with them for the next 30 or 40 years as no young plants would survive that. 

[Tyrone]

5 minutes ago, Josue Diaz said:

Chile's vegetation, like that of other regions with summer dry climates have evolved to live with fire. I wouldn't be surprised if these strands have seen many fires in the span of thousands of years. Canariensis can burn up in a fire and grow out fine given some time, so I'm going to assume most of these will be ok. 

I hope so, but Phoenix canariensis are much faster to grow back than Jubaea. Any young pre trunking seedlings would likely have been wiped out by that fire. 

[Silas_Sancona]

5 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

I hope so, but Phoenix canariensis are much faster to grow back than Jubaea. Any young pre trunking seedlings would likely have been wiped out by that fire. 

Some will survive, some won't.  Others will produce the next generation.  Nature is good about working out the details..   

[UK_Palms]

On 12/25/2022 at 11:05 PM, Tyrone said:

That’s just terrible

.Juania wouldn’t stand a chance in fire. One hot bit of sun and they’re done. I have no idea also what the Jubaeas tolerance is to a hot fire. I wonder what started it. Arson, dry lightening?

Another reason to plant Jubaea absolutely everywhere that the climate allows them to grow. Natural stands of palms can be wiped out just like that. 

 

No idea what the cause was. I don't think authorities know for sure. I doubt it was lightening, but it could have been. Probably a cigarette, a spark from machinery, or arson likely. 

 

The Jubaea that haven't been absolutely incinerated should recover, eventually. They're so slow growing though that it will take years to recover and that is just the bigger ones. Smaller ones are probably gone. Some bigger specimens have been completely incinerated too. I am now hearing 300+ specimens effected including juveniles. Look at the scale in this video.

 

I think most of the botanical garden has been spared, although the fires have passed through. Damage to any Juania is still unclear at this stage.

Edited December 26, 2022 by UK_Palms

[Hortulanus]

My biggsest concern is that a wildfire might come back again next season or in a couple of years. With the increase and severity of wildfire all around the globe I've seen this happen very often lately. Regions getting hit by extraordinary wildfires again and again. Luckily this species is well distributed in cultivation all around the world and can be resoterd at any time, even if takes at least a century... Hurts a palm growers heart though... 🥲

[Tyrone]

I think this situation highlights one potential big issue with palm conservation. You need in situ (wild populations) to continue and be protected but you also need ex situ (in cultivation populations) as well. 

Over the years there have been some who come on this forum, often from some government organisation, who really put seed collection of rare species in a bad light and saying that all seed need to remain in the wild. Well all it takes is one extinction event and it’s all over. This fire highlights what can happen.