Printable Version
WELCOME TO THE GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT
Your next adventure starts here! Year-round recreational opportunities abound on almost 550 miles of wild and scenic beauty. Located at the southern most end of the Sierra Nevada in Central California, the monument protects 38 groves of the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). These trees can tower 270 feet high and reach 30 feet in diameter. Our elevations range from 2,000 feet in the foothills to peaks over 10,000 feet offering spectacular views and adventure in giant redwood groves, granite monoliths, glacier-torn canyons, roaring rivers and lush flower-filled meadows.
A Wildland Fire Use Strategy
Comb Fire — Nature's Ecological Tool
On July 22, a volunteer at Buck Rock Fire Lookout, spotted a column of smoke from two fires in Kings Canyon National Park, officials quickly assessed whether to douse the fire or, monitor and allow it to become an important ecological tool. Federal land managers know natural burns, like this lightning-sparked Comb Fire, is Mother Nature's tool to change the natural landscape.
Naturally-caused fires that remain small are efficient thinning tools. They meander here and there, consuming low brush, shrubs, small trees and snags, reducing the accumulation of forest fuels. The larger trees survive, and openings are created for healthy new ones to grow. Cycling nutrients back into the soil, and regulating insects and disease are additional gains. Some trees, like the giant sequoia, need the heat of fire to drop their seeds. Animals benefit too. Some insects fly to fires to lay their eggs in warm trees. And the three-toed woodpecker wanders erratically in search of timber killed by fire just to feed on those insects.
Scientists estimate that over the past several centuries, unsuppressed natural fire had burned 15,000 to 18,000 acres a year in the Sierra Nevada.
Although officials may also use "prescribed burns," the "Wildland Fire Use" strategy utilizes the benefits of lightning fires when there is low risk for people and property.
Moisture from last winter and a burn 25 years ago made the Comb Fire ideal. An interagency team of fire management professionals use sophisticated computer programs to predict its path. To keep the fire small and control its direction, water may be dropped from a helicopter or sections of brush fronting the fire may be burned to eliminate excess fuel. An air district inspector works with the fire management team daily. Weather conditions have allowed the Comb Fire to work it's magic while still keeping reasonable air-quality standards. At 9,500-acres and growing, the monitored Comb Fire is expected to continue it's achievements until winter rains and snow end it.
Events like the Comb Fire are important and beneficial. At the southern end of the Sequoia two additional fires are being monitored, the Craig and the North.
