Last Friday, after my
husband’s appointment in Fresno, we traveled fifty-three miles farther south to
visit one of the homes of the giants. Giant sequoia trees, although closely related
to the coastal redwood trees which grow along the Pacific Coast from California up
through Oregon, grow only on the
western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, between
4,000 and 8,000 feet (1219 and 2438 m) in elevation. (You will also find redwood
trees in these mountains.)
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Courtesy of Sequoia National Park website
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Giant sequoia trees, which
are a fast growing tree, grow as large as they do for several reasons. As long
as they continue to live, their trunks thicken. Their thick, fibrous
bark insulates the trees. Their high level of tannins help these trees resist
rot, disease, and insect damage. Even if they suffer some fire damage, as did the General Grant tree, pictured below, as long as their cores remain mostly covered
with bark, water and nutrients continue to keep the trees alive and thriving. That
is why giant sequoia trees can grow to be older than 3,000 years, where most
other trees that do not grow nearly as large seldom grow older than 300 years.
Several of these trees are
names for famous people. The two largest are named for American Civil War generals.
The
first of the giant generals I visited was the General Grant tree. It is 268.1
feet tall and 40 wide. Since giant sequoia trees can grow to be 3,000 or older,
at 1,700 years of age, it is a relatively young tree for its size. As of 2003,
it is the second largest giant sequoia by trunk volume. It is located in the
General Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park. It has a
circumference of 107.5 feet and a bole volume of 46.608 cu ft (1,319.8 m3).
This tree was named in 1867 in
honor of General Ulysses S. Grant, a Union general in the Civil War.
At the time, it was thought to be the largest giant sequoia tree alive.
In
October 1879, after returning from his world tour, General Grant visited the giant
sequoia trees of the California Sierra Nevada on a six day stagecoach tour of
Yosemite Valley.
To protect these trees
from logging, in 1890, President Harrison signed a bill to establish General
Grant National Park, making it the nation’s fourth national park. Later it
became part of Kings Canyon National Park. In 1926, President Coolidge officially designated
the tree as the “Nation’s Christmas Tree.”
Plaque commissioned by American Legion Post 621 from Squaw
Valley
Thirty years later in 1956,
President Eisenhower designated the tree a “National Shrine,” dedicated to
those lost in war by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. It is the only living object
to be declared a national shrine.
I did not visit the
Washington tree, named for George Washington—another general who, like General
Grant, later became a president of the United States. Until
September 2003, it was
the second-largest tree in the world after the General Sherman tree. At that
time, a fire caused by a lightning strike resulted in the tree losing a portion
of its crown. This reduced its height from nearly 255 feet to about 229 feet.
Weakened structurally, a heavy snow load in January of 2005 caused the tree to
partially collapse. Now the tree is about 115 feet tall.
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A child standing next to the Gen. Sherman tree & Gen. Sherman
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However, I did visit the largest giant sequoia tree, the
General Sherman tree. As such, it is the largest living organism by volume in
the world. Located in the Giant Forest Grove in Sequoia National Park, it is
274.9 feet in height and has a circumference of 102.6 feet. It has a bole
volume of 52,508 cu ft (1,486.9 m3). It is estimated to be
around 2,200 to 2,700 years old.
This tree was named for General William Tecumseh Sherman, a
Civil War general who worked closely with General Grant.
For a list of the largest giant sequoia trees, please CLICK HERE.
What captured my interest about these trees is that, for the
past two summers, my local news out of Fresno, California, was full of reports
of fire containment and forest loss due to three fires in these parks. Most
such fires are caused by lightning strikes—a common occurrence in the higher elevations
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As if Covid-19 were not enough, knowing that
for months, large sections of the Sequoia National Park and National Forest
were closed and buried in dense smoke, I became determined to visit these parks
this year—before the worst of fire season reared its ugly head. I feared, if this trend continued, fire might destroy all the giant sequoia trees in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park before I could see them again.
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Six major fires between 2015 and 2021 that destroyed giant sequoia trees
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According to the latest information posted at the park, during the three fires in 2020 and 2021 alone, scientists estimate that between 13% and 19% of the worldwide giant sequoia tree population as been destroyed.
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Courtesy Sequoia National Park - notice size of people in 1890 photo
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Small, frequent fires are good for the giant sequoias. If
not too intense, they not only burn the underbrush and smaller trees of other
varieties, which provides nutrients, but it prompts the giant sequoias to drop
their seeds, which sprout in the newly-opened space. For many years, the Forest
Service practiced aggressive fire suppression, which led to dense undergrowth.
Now, the policy is to practice controlled burns to keep as much of the ground
growth at a minimum. This helps to protect these trees from large,
all-encompassing fires.
However, due to drought and higher overall summer
temperatures in recent years, in spite of some of these measures, forest fires
have become more frequent and intense. This has resulted in a large loss of all
trees that grow in these mountains, but particularly the giant sequoia that do
not grow anywhere else in the world.
In the Redwood Canyon alone, it is estimated that, along
with other species of trees, more than 2,100 giant sequoias with a diameter of
ten feet or greater were destroyed by fire in the 2021 KNP Complex fire.
I was almost too late. Even as we drove up to these parks, my
husband and I noticed a lot of smoke in the air. I knew there was a large fire
straddling Amador and Calaveras Counties to the north, and the wind patterns
are such that the smoke was being blown south through the San Joaquin Valley. I
also know there are several lightning strike fires every year in Yosemite
National Park just to the north of the parks we visited. Many of these fires
are in inaccessible areas of Yosemite and burn themselves out. However, just
last Thursday, a new fire—the Washburn Fire—broke out near Wawona and the
Highway 41 entrance to Yosemite NP on the south. It also threatens the Mariposa
Grove, home of over 500 giant sequoias. I am grateful that, after being closed
several years, this grove was opened in 2019 and I was able to visit it then.
To read one of the latest updates about the Washburn Fire as
reported in a local newspaper, please CLICK
HERE.
Now that I’ve visited the giant generals, it is back to
writing. My next book to be published is part of the Old Timey Holiday Kitchen series.
The books for 2022 will be announced on event held next week on the Sweet
Americana Book Club Facebook group. To sign up so you receive reminders about
this event, please CLICK
HERE.
Sources:
https://explorekingscanyon.com/giant-sequoias-general-grant-christmas-tree/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Grant_(tree)
https://www.grantcottage.org/blog/thenationschristmastree
https://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/community/mariposa-and-yosemite/article263343258.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_giant_sequoias
