SAN DIEGO — A San Diego County man is on a mission to plant trees you wouldn’t normally find in Southern California. Dr. Jim Hammerly has been planting iconic sequoia trees all around his home on Palomar Mountain. Sequoias are best known for being in Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park.
“The three or four that are the tallest are about 15 years old,” Hammerly said.
As an avid conservationist, he started reforesting his 20-acres of land with sequoias more than a decade ago, to the surprise of many who didn’t think they would thrive this far south. His home sits more than 5,000 feet above sea level, and Hammerly says the sequoias love it. He now has a grove of about 70 trees and estimates he’s helped plant another 250 around the mountain.
“I wish I could live another hundred years because I’d like to see them two hundred feet tall,” he said.
His work spotlights the challenges the beloved trees face. According to the National Parks Service, giant sequoias face serious threats from climate change, wildfires and bark beetles. The giant sequoia is listed as an endangered species by the IUCN, with fewer than 80,000 trees remaining.
Daniel Tinajero is president of California Climate Exchange, a company specializing in sustainability and carbon management. Tinajero believes Hammerly may have the largest grove of sequoias in Southern California. They’ve calculated that the grove of sequoia trees sequesters seven tons of carbon each year. Tinajero says it creates massive environmental benefits for the small mountain community.
“Usually people look at forest conservation as a large-scale, right? They don’t really look at the small scale, for example, Dr. Hammerly’s grove,” Tinajero said. “It’s a very small-scale, but it’s doing a great impact on the environment.”
Hammerly Grove is working toward the goal set by the United Nations to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. He teamed up with California Climate Exchange to help him verify that his project is positively impacting global climate change. Tinajero believes these efforts will not only go a long way toward helping the environment, but will also inspire others to pitch it.
“The more people know about sequoias and groves and carbon benefits from it, I think more people will be, especially private owners, will be more incentivized to do the conservation efforts of these beautiful trees,” he said.
Hammerly’s mission isn’t just about what will happen to these trees in the next year or two, but what they’ll look like in 500 years. He planted a Grandfather’s Circle of 10 sequoia trees to leave behind to his family. He hopes his trees help people think about ways they can help the earth too.
“Just have to be around for fifty years to see the end result, which I won’t be, but that’s fine. My great-grandchildren will be, so I’m very excited about that,” Hammerly said. “I’ve had many, many different careers in my lifetime. And this is the way I’d like to finish up, is to propagate sequoias.”
Sequoia trees can live for thousands of years, can grow up to 300 feet tall and grow about two feet every year.