Young Sequoias People have not always understood the interactions in a sequoia forest.
Fire heats the cones of the sequoia, releasing the tree's oatmeal-sized seeds.
It also clears the area below the tree of debris, which would prevent the seeds from sprouting, and of other plants, which would compete with the young trees for sunlight. Today, the Park Service intentionally sets fires in sequoia groves and elsewhere in the park to restore this natural process, and to reduce the accumulation of forest fuels that might otherwise feed unnaturally intense wildfires.