Giant Sequoia National Monument

The Giant Sequoia National Monument is a 328,315-acre (512.992 sq mi) 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 39 Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) groves that are located in the Sequoia National Forest, about half of the sequoia groves currently in existence, including one of the ten largest Giant Sequoias, the Boole Tree, which is 269 feet (82 m) high with a base circumference of 112 feet (34 m). The forest covers 824 square miles (2,130 km2). The monument is in two sections. The northern section surrounds General Grant Grove and other parts of Kings Canyon National Park and is administered by the Hume Lake Ranger District. The southern section, which includes Long Meadow Grove, is directly south of Sequoia National Park and is administered by the Western Divide Ranger District, surrounding the eastern half of the Tule River Indian Reservation. The Giant Sequoia National Monument was created by President Bill Clinton in Proclamation 7295 on April 15, 2000, and published as 65 FR 24095 on April 25. In August 2023, gray wolves reappeared at Giant Sequoia National Monument for the first time in more than 100 years. Native History The Giant Sequoias were found by European settlers in the mid 1800s, but were home to the Native American tribes of the region before European discovery. The Western Mono (also called Monache) lived in the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and shared a deep connection with these trees. They relied on the giant sequoias for food, shelter, and even cultural practices. Descendants from this tribe, alongside other tribes found in the nearby areas, tend to the Sequoia land. Management Presidential Proclamation 7295 required that a management plan be completed within three years. In January 2004, the Sequoia National Forest published and began implementation of the Giant Sequoia National Monument Management Plan, which provided for use by an international public as well as for the protection and restoration of 33 giant sequoia groves and their ecosystems. Subsequently, two lawsuits were brought challenging the plan. In October 2006, Federal District Court Judge Charles Breyer found in favor of the plaintiffs and remanded the plan to the U.S. Forest Service "…so that a proper Monument Plan can be developed in accordance with the Presidential Proclamation,… and in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)…" In January 2008, the Sequoia National Forest published a notice of intent in the Federal Register that they intended to prepare an environmental impact statement and were beginning a year-long collaborative scoping process for development of a new Giant Sequoia National Monument Management Plan. As of August 2010 only one location in the monument, the Generals Highway, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but the monument does have several hundred sites that are potentially eligible for the register. See also Converse Basin Grove Ecology of the Sierra Nevada List of giant sequoia groves List of largest giant sequoias List of plants of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.) List of national monuments of the United States Protected areas of the Sierra Nevada Fauna of the Sierra Nevada Flora of the Sierra Nevada References External links Official website Sequoia National Forest: Photo Gallery — one of several Giant Sequoia groves within the monument USFS: Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument homepage Sequoia National Forest: Overview, Creation, and Administration of the Monument Trail of 100 Giants