The giant sequoia

Sequoia National Park is closed due to massive fires burning nearby that have resulted in the loss of more than 100 structures and thousands of evacuations. The nation’s second national park would be celebrating its 130th anniversary Sept. 25.

Jurassic park?

The oldest known redwood fossils date back more than 200 million years to the Jurassic period and the trees once spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The last giant sequoias are on about 48,000 acres, in about 73 groves scattered along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. The northernmost sequoias grow in Tahoe National Forest, and the southernmost groves are in the Sequoia National Forest, northeast of Bakersfield.

Giant sequoias live a very long time and grow quickly. They require a lot of water, which is mostly from the Sierra snowpack that soaks into the ground.

Fire isn’t necessarily bad

The fires burning near the park may help the trees. Giant sequoias can protect themselves against natural threats, allowing them to survive for thousands of years. Their mass can prevent them from getting blown over by high winds. Their bark is so thick it protects them against fire and harmful insects. Occasional wildfires can help the reproduction of the trees by removing underbrush and adding nutrients to the soil. Sequoia seedlings need nutrient-rich soil, lots of sunlight in areas free of competition from other plants to thrive.

“There is something wonderfully attractive in this king tree, even when beheld from afar, that draws us to it with indescribable enthusiasm; its superior height and massive smoothly rounded outlines proclaiming its character in any company; and when one of the oldest attains full stature on some commanding ridge it seems the very god of the woods.”— John Muir

Wood you know

They may not be as tall as the coastal redwoods, but no other living thing on the planet can grow to the overall size of the giant sequoias.

Coastal redwoods and giant sequoias are both considered California’s state tree since they are both redwoods.

The General Sherman Tree is the largest of all the sequoias with a trunk volume of 52,500 cubic feet. It is estimated to be about 2,000 years old. Some sequoias are more than 3,000 years old.

The biggest tree in Sequoia National Park weighs 642 tons, which is about…

Parks timeline

This list shows U.S. national parks in the order in which they were designated national parks. That date can be different from the date when the land was first designated and protected as a National Park Service land, and from the date when the National Park was established.

In 2020, the National Park System encompasses 419 national park sites. Within the system, there are 62 sites that include “National Park” as part of their proper name.

1872 Yellowstone1890 SequoiaYosemite (State Park, 1864)1899 Mount Rainier1902 Crater Lake1903 Wind Cave1906 Mesa Verde1910 Glacier1915 Rocky Mountain1916 Lassen VolcanicHawaii Volcanoes (originally part of Hawaii National Park)Haleakala (originally part of Hawaii National Park)1917 Denali (originally Mt. McKinley National Park, renamed in 1980)1919 Grand CanyonZionAcadia1921 Hot Springs1926 Shenandoah1928 Bryce Canyon1929 Grand Teton1930 Carlsbad Caverns1934 EvergladesGreat Smoky Mountains1938 Olympic1940 Kings CanyonIsle Royale1941 Mammoth Cave1944 Big Bend1956 Virgin Islands1962 Petrified Forest1964 Canyonlands1966 Guadalupe Mountains1968 North CascadesRedwood1971 Capitol ReefVoyageursArches1978 Theodore RooseveltBadlands1980 Channel IslandsBiscayneKatmaiGlacier BayGates of the ArticKenai FjordsKobuk ValleyLake ClarkWrangell St. Elias1986 Great Basin1988 National Park of American Samoa1992 Dry Tortugas1994 Death ValleySaguaroJoshua Tree1999 Black Canyon of the Gunnison2000 Cuyahoga Valley2003 Congaree2004 Great Sand Dunes2013 Pinnacles2018 Gateway Arch2019 Indiana DunesWhite Sands

Founding the park service

By the Act of March 1, 1872, Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the territories of Montana and Wyoming “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” and placed it “under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior.”


Staff photos and illustrations

Sources: National Park Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation,, savethe