In 2021, a lightning-ignited wildland fire, called the KNP Complex fire, spread through a significant portion of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California, including through several remote giant sequoia groves. The KNP Complex fire burned with a natural mix of intensities, from mild surface fire to higher-intensity fire patches. The Castle Fire occurred in 2020 and burned in some groves too.
The National Park Service (NPS) is proposing to "fix" these natural events with management actions, including up to 37 total sling load helicopter deliveries and 62 helicopter landings, using chainsaws and explosives to fell hundreds of trees to create landings and staging areas for the helicopters, and planting up to 1,131 acres of giant sequoia plantations—all within the designated Wilderness of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks.
The Wilderness Act prohibits manipulating Wilderness—like what NPS proposes in this massive landscaping project—for good reason. The proposal violates the fundamental values of Wilderness, and is an example of how land managers are increasingly trying to establish their desired conditions for the natural conditions created by an untrammeled Wilderness. Planting in Wilderness, regardless of how well intended, violates this fundamental tenet. Wilderness Act author Howard Zahniser put it best when he implored Wilderness managers to be "guardians not gardeners."
Helicopters are antithetical to Wilderness, and prohibited by the Wilderness Act, except in rare cases where such use is essential to Wilderness protection or search and rescue operations. They’re machines used to facilitate projects that dominate nature, harass wildlife, and destroy the experience for Wilderness visitors.
Instead of planting giant sequoia and other seedlings, possibly cutting down snags, and using helicopters in Wilderness, NPS should allow natural processes to continue to shape the Wilderness as they have for millennia. Not only is this the right thing to do for Wilderness, but it also presents a perfect opportunity to study natural regeneration in an area burned by a high, medium, and low-intensity fire.
Recently, a team of independent scientists reported that they are now finding thousands of naturally-regenerating sequoia seedlings per acre in the higher-intensity fire areas where NPS claims sequoia regeneration is lacking and artificial planting is supposedly needed. As a recent opinion-editorial in the Los Angeles Times explained, giant sequoias naturally reproduce best where higher-intensity fire has occurred. This research shows the Park Service's reasons are groundless.
The NPS plan is an attack on Wilderness, and an assault on giant sequoia groves.
Raise your voice! The comment deadline runs until Sunday, August 6 and you can submit your own personal comments right here.
Please consider including the points below in your comments, and certainly if you have any personal experience or knowledge about Sequoia-Kings Canyon and John Krebs Wildernesses or giant sequoia groves make sure to include that as well.
Thank you for defending the Sequoia-Kings Canyon and John Krebs Wildernesses! |
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Use your own words, but consider including these points when you submit your public comments:
• I urge you to withdraw and cancel this proposal to use helicopters, remove snags, and plant giant sequoia seedlings within the Sequoia-Kings Canyon and John Krebs Wildernesses. The prediction that sequoia seedlings would die and dwindle in the higher-intensity fire areas was wrong, and independent scientists are now documenting thousands of sequoia seedlings per acre in these areas.
• The Wilderness Act prohibits manipulating Wilderness, like what’s proposed in this project. Planting trees and removing snags in Wilderness violates this fundamental tenet of Wilderness, that it remains "untrammeled," or unmanipulated. Wilderness is meant to be shaped by natural processes, and Wilderness Act author Howard Zahniser put it best when he implored managers to be "guardians not gardeners." This would present an opportunity to study natural regeneration in an area burned by a high-intensity fire. Snags should be left to stand as they are.
• Helicopters are antithetical to Wilderness, and prohibited by the Wilderness Act, except in rare cases where such use is essential to Wilderness protection or search and rescue operations. Helicopters harass wildlife and destroy the experience for Wilderness visitors.
• Please drop this proposal to use helicopters, remove snags, and plant trees in the Wilderness. If study is needed on regeneration, find an alternative location in groves outside of Wilderness. |
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