List of giant sequoia groves

Giant sequoia in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park

This is a list of giant sequoia groves. All naturally occurring giant sequoia groves are located in the moist, unglaciated ridges and valleys of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada range in California, United States. They can be found at elevations between 1,400 and 2,400 m (4,593 and 7,874 ft).

While many groves are within national park boundaries, such as Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park, most of the giant sequoia groves are under the care of the United States Forest Service, placing them outside the legislative mandate that excludes commercial timber harvest. Logging of non-sequoia timber continued as recently as the 1980, especially old-growth ponderosa and sugar pine, which have been logged almost to extinction amongst the groves.[1]

Groves in the northern half of the range (north of the Kings River) are widely scattered and host smaller collections of giant sequoias than groves found within and south of the Kings River watershed. The total area of all the groves combined is approximately 14,416 ha (35,623 acres). The groves are listed from north to south in the list below.

This list is based on five different sources, with slightly varying views on what constitutes a discrete grove; the differing interpretations are noted in italics. The lists of groves were compiled by Rundel (1972; recognizing 75 groves), Flint (1987; recognizing 65 groves), Willard (1994; recognizing 65 groves), the Giant Sequoia National Monument Visitor's Guide (2003), and the Draft Giant Sequoia National Monument Plan 2010. Currently, the U.S. National Park Service cites Rundel's total of 75 groves in its visitor publications. The updated lists from Willard and Flint are now known to be more accurate, therefore some of Rundel's 75 groves have been removed from this list. Below compiles a list of 81 giant sequoia groves.[2][failed verification]

  1. ^ Willard, Dwight. Selected Perspectives on the Giant Sequoia Groves (PDF). USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. USFS. pp. 15–16. PSW-GTR-151. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  2. ^ Willard, Dwight. The Natural Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron Giganteum) Groves of the Sierra Nevada, California—An Updated Annotated List (PDF). USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. USFS. pp. 159–164. PSW-GTR-151. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-20. Retrieved 2014-05-14.

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