Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...

mountains of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The

U.S. National Forest In the United States, national forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands. National forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed by t ...

is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundaries of the forest. The

Giant Sequoia National Monument The Giant Sequoia National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the southern Sierra Nevada in eastern central California. It is administered by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Sequoia National Forest and includes 38 of the 3 ...

is located in the national forest. Other notable features include

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

-carved landscapes and impressive

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

The Needles The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...

are a series of granite spires atop a narrow ridge above the Kern River. Forest headquarters are located in Porterville, California. There are local ranger district offices in Dunlap, Kernville,

Lake Isabella Lake Isabella also called Isabella Lake, is a reservoir in Kern County, California, United States created by the earthen Isabella Dam. It was formed in 1953 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Kern River at the junction of its two f ...

, and Springville.

Geography

The Sequoia National Forest covers , and ranges in elevation from in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada to over . Its giant sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') groves are part of its of

old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

forests. Other tree species include: *

Jeffrey pine ''Pinus jeffreyi'', also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja Califo ...

(''Pinus jeffreyi'') *

Red fir ''Abies magnifica'', the red fir or silvertip fir, is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of southwest Oregon and California in the United States. It is a high-elevation tree, typically occurring at elevation, though only rare ...

(''Abies magnifica'') *

Coast Douglas-fir ''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii'', commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward t ...

(''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii'') *

Ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

(''Pinus ponderosa'') *

White fir ''Abies concolor'', the white fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Cascade Range and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain ranges ...

(''Abies concolor'') *

Lodgepole pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpin ...

(''Pinus contorta'') The National Forest contains over of road and of trails, and hosts a number of camping and recreational facilities. The forest is adjacent to Sequoia and Kings Canyon

National Parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

Wilderness areas

There are six

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

s within Sequoia NF that are part of the

National Wilderness Preservation System The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the Na ...

. Some of these extend into neighboring National Forests, as indicated. Two of them also extend into land that is managed by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...

. *

Domeland Wilderness The Domeland Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area located northeast of Bakersfield, California USA. It encompasses , is jointly managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and is mostly within the Sequ ...

(partly BLM) *

Golden Trout Wilderness The Golden Trout Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area in the Sierra Nevada, in Tulare County and Inyo County, California. It is located east of Porterville within Inyo National Forest and Sequoia National Forest. It is in s ...

(mostly in Inyo NF) * Jennie Lakes Wilderness * Kiavah Wilderness (mostly BLM) *

Monarch Wilderness The Monarch Wilderness (also Monarch Wilderness Complex) is a federally designated wilderness area located 70 miles east of Fresno, California, in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It encompasses within both the Sequoia National Forest and the ...

(partly in Sierra NF) *

South Sierra Wilderness The South Sierra Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area in the Southern Sierra Nevada, in eastern California. It is located northeast of Bakersfield, and is southwest of Owens Lake and Olancha. Geography Created with the passag ...

(mostly in Inyo NF)

Giant Sequoia National Monument

On April 15, 2000, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

proclaimed of the Sequoia National Forest as the

by Presidential Proclamation 7295, published in the Federal Register, Tuesday, April 25, 2000, Vol. 65, No. 80. The monument is in two sections. The northern section surrounds

General Grant Grove General Grant Grove, a section of the greater Kings Canyon National Park, was established by the U.S. Congress in 1890 and is located in Fresno County, California. The primary attraction of General Grant Grove is the giant sequoia trees that ...

and other parts of Kings Canyon National Park and is administered by the Hume Lake Ranger District. The southern section is directly south of

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890, and today protects of forested mountainous terrain. Encompassing a vertical relief ...

and is administered by the Western Divide Ranger District, surrounding the eastern half of the Tule River Indian Reservation.

The Needles

The Needles are a series of granite spires atop a narrow ridge above the

Kern River The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfie ...

.()

History

Sequoia National Forest was established on July 1, 1908, from a portion of

Sierra Forest Reserve The Sierra Forest Reserve was a federal reserve in the Sierra Nevada, in eastern California. It was established on February 14, 1893 by President Benjamin Harrison with authorization from section 24 of the Forest Reserve Act of 1891. It was the la ...

. On March 2, 1909, Theodore Roosevelt added land by Presidential Proclamation. On July 1, 1910 was removed from the forest to create the Kern National Forest. This land was returned to Sequoia National Forest on July 1, 1915.

Fire impact

Tree fire protection at the Sequoia National Forest

The

Castle Fire SQF Complex or Sequoia Complex was a complex of two of the August 2020 California lightning wildfires, burning in Sequoia National Forest and adjacent areas. Sparked on August 19, it included the Castle and Shotgun fires. As of January 5, 2021 ...

in 2020 burned in the forest, with of giant sequoia groves burned The fire swept through portions of the Dillonwood, Mountain Home, Alder Creek,

Freeman Creek Freeman Creek Grove is a grove of giant sequoias located in Giant Sequoia National Monument in the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. The area is a botanical reserve under administration by the Sequoia National Forest, except for one small inh ...

McIntyre McIntyre, McEntire, MacIntyre, McAteer, and McIntire are Scottish and Irish surnames derived from the Gaelic ' literally meaning "Son of the Craftsman or Mason", but more commonly cited as "son of the Carpenter."Scottish Clans: MacIntyre - Origin o ...

, and Wheel Meadow, Belknap, Burro Creek, Silver Creek, Middle Tule, Upper Tule, and Wishon Groves. The fire burned at high intensity in of sequoia groves: high-intensity fire kills more than 90% of the giant sequoias in the area. The number of mature Sequoia Trees that died overall is estimated at over 7500–10,600 mature trees, or over 10-14% of the species' population. The most intense previous fire in this area is dated to 1297 based on tree ring data. The McIntrye Grove, a short distance to the south from Cedar Slope, was heavily damaged. Near Sequoia Crest, one-third of the Alder Creek Grove of Giant Sequoia was severely damaged. The large Stagg Tree in Alder Creek Grove was not impacted. Other areas experienced “light fire” which is expected to be ecologically beneficial in the long run. Great Bonsai2

The following individual large Giant Sequoias in the forest have been reported to be damaged or destroyed in the Castle Fire: *

Genesis tree is a turn-based role-playing video game. It is followed by '' Legaia 2: Duel Saga''. Gameplay The player selects a target during battle. Each character performs on the phase based on status. The player sees corresponding vertical strikes. Each d ...

(heavily damaged, previously the seventh-largest tree) * Great Bonsai tree * Summit Road tree (damaged, the 15th-largest tree) * Waterfall tree (previously the sequoia with the largest ground perimeter * Window tree * The Patriarch tree The Windy Fire in 2021 burned over , including a large area in the forest. A number of groves were completely within the fire perimeter, including the Cunningham, Deer Creek, Long Meadow, Packsaddle, Peyrone, Redhill, South Peyrone, and Starvation Creek Groves. Over of groves were within the fire perimeter. Satellite image analysis showed that 50% of that area was burned at moderate or high intensity: over 1,000 giant sequoia were estimated to be destroyed in the forest. Only four mature giant sequoia survived the fire in the Starvation Creek Grove.

Giant sequoia groves

The Sequoia National Forest has 34

giant sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...

groves. *The 14 groves in the Kings River watershed are in the northern section of

(GSNM), or in the Sequoia National Forest (SeNF), in southernmost

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cali ...

and Tulare County: # Indian Basin Grove (GSNM) A mid-size grove, mostly logged. It can be accessed by paved roads. The grove contains many young sequoias approaching diameters of up to . 1800–2000 m. #

Converse Basin Converse Basin Grove is a grove of giant sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees in the Giant Sequoia National Monument in the Sierra Nevada, in Fresno County, California, 5 miles (8 km) north of General Grant Grove, just outside K ...

Grove (GSNM). Once the second-largest grove, but much logged around 1890–1900; However, nearly 100 widely scattered old-growth Giant Sequoias remain (apparently bypassed by the loggers), also good regrowth of younger trees. Home of the

Boole Tree The Boole Tree is a giant sequoia in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, Fresno County, California. The Boole Tree is the eighth tallest sequoia in the world and is the largest in terms of base circumference at 112 feet. It is estimated to be m ...

, which the loggers spared as it was by far the largest tree in the grove and is now identified as the sixth-largest tree by volume. Also home of the Chicago Stump, which is the remnant of the General Noble Tree that was cut for the 1893

World Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

; the General Noble Tree was the second largest tree in the grove (after the Boole Tree) and it was the largest tree ever cut down. Although not among the very largest Giant Sequoias, the General Noble Tree was perhaps among the top 30 largest Giant Sequoias before it was cut. 1800–2000 m. # Lockwood Grove (GSNM). 1700–1800 m. # Monarch Grove (GSNM). Immediately north of the Agnew Grove, near Monarch Wilderness boundary. ''On Forest Service GSNM map.'' #

Evans Grove The Evans Grove Complex is a complex of seven giant sequoia groves located in the Kings River watershed on the southern slopes of Kings Canyon in Giant Sequoia National Monument ( Sequoia National Forest). It is formed from the Evans, Lockwood ...

(GSNM). Partially logged, before 1920. 36°48'N 118°49'30"W 2050–2250 m. # Agnew & Deer Meadow Grove (GSNM). 1950–2000 m. # Cherry Gap Grove (GSNM). Logged. Located between Converse Basin Grove and

, near McGee Overlook (). 2070 m. Cherry Gap Grove is a small sequoia grove of about thirty-five acres in Sequoia national forest; it was logged of all of its old growth sequoias. # Abbott Creek Grove (GSNM). 1900 m. ''Listed by Rundel and Flint; very small (largely logged); too few trees to qualify as a grove according to Willard''. # Kennedy Grove (GSNM). 2050–2250 m. Contains the 13th largest giant sequoia in the world, The Ishi Giant. # Little Boulder Creek Grove (GSNM). 2000 m. # Boulder Creek Grove (GSNM). 2050 m. # Landslide Grove (GSNM). 2050–2250 m. # Bearskin Grove (GSNM). 1850–1900 m. # Big Stump Grove (KCNP/GSNM). 1850 m. *One grove in the

Kaweah River The Kaweah River is a river draining the southern Sierra Nevada in Tulare County, California in the United States. Fed primarily by high elevation snowmelt along the Great Western Divide, the Kaweah begins as four forks in Sequoia National Park ...

watershed: # Redwood Mountain Grove (KCNP/GSNM). The largest grove, 1240 ha (3100 acres), with 15,800 sequoias 30 cm (one foot) or more in diameter at the base. Genesis tree

*The 19 groves in the

Tule River The Tule River, also called Rio de San Pedro or Rio San Pedro, is a river in Tulare County in the U.S. state of California. The river originates in the Sierra Nevada east of Porterville and consists of three forks, North, Middle and South. The ...

and

watersheds are mostly in

(GSNM); all in southern Tulare County. #Upper Tule Grove (GSNM). ''Included on Forest Service GSNM map''. #Maggie Mountain Grove (GSNM). #Silver Creek Grove (GSNM). #

Mountain Home Grove Mountain Home Grove is a grove of giant sequoia trees located in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, and includes some of the largest trees in the world. Description Mountain Home Grove is located partly in Balc ...

(CSF / GSNM). Home of the 'Genesis' tree, seventh largest by volume, this grove also contains the smaller Middle Tule Grove #Burro Creek Grove (GSNM). #Wishon Grove (GSNM). South of Silver Creek Grove. ''Included on Forest Service GSNM map''. #

Alder Creek Grove Alder Creek Grove is a giant sequoia grove located both on private land and within the Giant Sequoia National Monument in the western Sierra Nevada of California. The grove is spread out over approximately of land and contains 483 giant sequoias ...

(GSNM / private); also known as Hossack, Pixley, or Ross Creek Grove. Home of 'Alonzo Stagg', the fifth largest tree by volume. Also home to the Waterfall tree, which has the largest circumference and diameter at ground level of any sequoia. # McIntyre Grove (GSNM). #Carr Wilson Grove(GSNM); also known as Bear Creek Grove. # Freeman Creek Grove (GSNM). # Black Mountain Grove (GSNM / TIR / private). Heavily logged in 1984, though mature sequoias were not cut. #Red Hill Grove (GSNM / private). #Peyrone Grove (GSNM / TIR). #South Peyrone Grove (GSNM) New discovery by Willard in 1992. # Long Meadow Grove (GSNM), Site of the Trail of 100 Giants and one tree of great size. #Cunningham Grove (GSNM). #Starvation Creek Grove (GSNM). # Packsaddle Grove (GSNM). #Deer Creek Grove (GSNM). The southernmost grove.

Cannabis Cultivation

The forest has been the scene of extensive illegal marijuana cultivation with the involvement of Mexican drug cartels.

Notes

References

"Sequoia National Forest"
United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Retrieved August 8, 2005. *Willard, D. (1994). The natural Giant Sequoia groves of the Sierra Nevada, California - an updated annotated list. ''USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep''. PSW-GTR-151: 159–164.

External links

official Sequoia National Forest website
{{Authority control National Forests of California Protected areas of the Sierra Nevada (United States)

Sequoiadendron ''Sequoiadendron'' is a genus of evergreen trees, with two species, only one of which survives to the present: * ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'', extant, commonly known as wellingtonia, giant redwood and giant sequoia, growing naturally in the Sierr ...

Protected areas of Fresno County, California Protected areas of Kern County, California Protected areas of Tulare County, California Giant sequoia groves