“On all the ridges from 5 to 7000 ft high when the soil is sufficiently moist, they occur growing thriftily with no visible thought of dying”

In 1875 Muir tried to find and visit every Giant Sequoia grove in the Sierra to determine where they were and if they were verging on extinction.

He studied dozens of groves and still more were found after his trip.

He believed that the trees were safe from natural extinction, but worried about aggressive logging and burning. Today, we understand the value of managed fire and how those fires can improve the life-cycle of the Giant Sequoia. However, if the Sierra continues to become warmer and drier due to climate change, the trees will suffer.

For more information...

Read King Sequoia: The Tree That Inspired a Nation, Created Our National Park System, and Changed the Way We Think about Nature, 2015 by William C. Tweed.