Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park is a national park located in California within the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The area includes ancient forests with giant sequoias and other extremely tall trees and a wide variety of other landforms such as canyons, ridges, valleys, and mountains, including Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States. After coming to the attention of European-American settlers in the mid-1800s, the region became nationally famous. After a brief period during which logging and mining interests threatened to destroy the wilderness, conservationists arranged for the area to be sanctioned as a national park. The park was established in 1890 by order of President Benjamin Harrison. In the twenty-first century, Sequoia National Park is administered by the National Park Service along with a nearby wilderness preserve, Kings Canyon National Park.

Brief History

The region now known as Sequoia National Park was originally inhabited by Native Americans. Most of these native people migrated or perished due to disease epidemics and left behind only scattered artifacts and pictographs. Around the mid-1800s, European-American settlers began arriving in the region. Most of these settlers were miners searching for gold and other precious metals, but many converted to logging operations upon seeing the vast untouched forests in the region.

The existence of gigantic trees, particularly the now-famous sequoias, remained little-known among outsiders. Outsiders who heard descriptions of the forests generally disregarded them as tall tales. In 1852, however, a hunter working at a mining camp tracked a bear into one of the forests and emerged with reports of unimaginable sights. This time, news began to spread, and soon people from around the nation were fascinated by the area.

Many newcomers came to the region enthralled not so much by the wonder of nature but by the prospects for material gain. In 1853, mine workers spent three weeks using massive drills to bring down one of the sequoia trees, dubbed "The Mammoth Tree." The fallen tree was subsequently cut into smaller pieces and then taken around the country, touring cities such as New York and San Francisco and gathering crowds willing to pay just to glimpse it. Meanwhile, logging companies seeing an apparently inexhaustible supply of lumber swarmed into the region.

Despite the early rush to exploit the forests, many conservationists also took note. They began to explore and map the region, finding grove after grove of forests, many hidden by ridges and canyons. The Calaveras Grove along with groves near Yosemite Valley and on the Middle, North, and South Forks of the Kaweah River yielded enormous trees. The largest grove with the largest trees was aptly named "The Giant Forest" by Scottish-American naturalist John Muir. This grove would later become the centerpiece of Sequoia National Park.

The pleas of conservationists reached a high level in the 1880s. Their call to preserve untouched wilderness from the often ruinous development of modernization won many supporters, even in high levels of government. The country, just barely older than a hundred years, had spent generations expanding at a tremendous rate and had depleted the notion of a "frontier" by spanning the continent with towns and railroads. At last, people were willing to put aside the drive to expand and exploit to save some land in its original state. The land, they felt, was a national and cultural treasure that could inspire poets, artists, scientists, and others with its natural beauty.

Overview

In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation that established Sequoia National Park. The government immediately halted logging operations in the area and headquartered a unit of US Cavalry soldiers to act as rangers. These soldiers patrolled the forests, clearing and mapping paths, and over time developed plans to protect and develop the park. In 1916, the National Park Service was formed to oversee and protect Sequoia and the growing number of other wilderness parks in the United States. Since that time, Sequoia National Park has expanded several times and weathered attempts by companies to alter the land for industry, development, or entertainment.

Sequoia National Park is a popular tourist destination, featuring a wide array of natural marvels, hiking trails, and other recreational opportunities. The main attraction and namesake of the park, the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), is, by volume, the largest tree and largest living organism in the world. Capable of reaching heights of 275 feet and circumferences of more than 35 feet, sequoias may live up to three thousand years.

Sequoias can be found only along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in California. Sequoia National Park encompasses most of these trees. The largest giant sequoia, and the largest tree known on Earth is the General Sherman tree, located in Sequoia National Park's Giant Forest. Nearby groves contain other massive sequoias, such as the General Grant tree, and a wide range of other huge trees, such as blue oak, Ponderosa, and fir trees, and other plant life.

The national park is notable for its varied landforms, ranging from the huge forests to grasslands, plains, canyons, valleys, and mountains, including much of the Sierra Nevada range. The most famous mountain is Mount Whitney, which, at 14,494 feet in height, is the highest point in the contiguous forty-eight states. Other well-known landmarks include the Tunnel Log (a fallen sequoia with a tunnel carved in it to allow cars to pass under), Moro Rock (a domed granite rock formation), and Tharp's Log (a hollowed-out dead sequoia used as a cabin by early settler Hale Tharp).

The park is divided into a front country and a back country. The front country includes the most popular and accessible areas, which abound in impressive trees and a wide variety of wildlife ranging from mule deer, foxes, and squirrels to mountain lions, black bears, bobcats, and rattlesnakes. The back country is mainly characterized by wilderness areas with few roads. Accessible only on foot or horseback, these parts of the park offer rare views of nearly pristine valleys, rivers, forests, and mountains, including Mount Whitney.

Sequoia National Park adjoins another park, Kings Canyon National Park. The National Park Service administers these parks jointly as the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Together, the parks encompass some 865,964 acres (1,353 square miles) of land. Along with their nature preserves, they offer campgrounds, trails, tours, museums, and other interpretive displays and activities meant to educate and inspire visitors.

Bibliography

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Hickman, Leo. "How a Giant Tree's Death Sparked the Conservation Movement 160 Years Ago." The Guardian, 27 June 2013, www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2013/jun/27/giant-tree-death-conservation-movement. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Scheidt, Laurel. Hiking Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Falcon Guides, 2016.

"Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, California." National Park Service, 29 Nov. 2024, www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

"Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks." National Geographic, travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/sequoia-kings-canyon-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

"Sequoia National Park." National Parks Conservation Association, www.npca.org/parks/sequoia-national-park. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

"Welcome to the Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument." United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, www.fs.usda.gov/sequoia/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

White, Mike. Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks: Your Complete Hiking Guide. Wilderness Press, 2012.