Update From Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition

Many thanks to Claudia Elliott for this guest post.

About a hundred people gathered at Calaveras Big Trees State Park on Dec. 14 to hear — and provide — updates to efforts to save giant sequoias. The purpose of the meeting was to allow members of the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition to report accomplishments in the group’s first full year of operation.

The natural range of the giant sequoia is in a narrow belt of the southern and central Sierra Nevada where they grow in about 80 groves interspersed with other conifers. The region has been hit hard with high intensity wildfire in the past few years and the loss of giant sequoias has been shocking.

With snow on the ground outside the meeting room, speakers representing coalition members shared their progress on accelerated efforts to reduce fuels during 2022 and other efforts.

Collectively, according to a report prepared for the event, coalition members conducted restoration treatments — including thinning and prescribed fires — on 4,257 of 26,000 acres in 36 of approximately 80 giant sequoia groves.

Although much remains to be done, this was more than twice the 2,000 acres set as a goal for the year.

Fuel was reduced around more than 4,000 giant sequoia trees and coalition members planted more than 248,000 native conifers, including giant sequoias.

In addition to the work in the field, the coalition reported that numerous scientific studies were advanced this year and public outreach and education efforts resulted in placement of more than 10,000 stories about giant sequoia issues in the media.

The work cost about $10.5 million, according to the report, and involved 824 people.

You can read the report here.

And you can read a special edition of my weekly Giant Sequoia News newsletter here.

The coalition has just unveiled its website here.

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