- Where
- Tulare County, California
southern Sierra Nevada - Coordinates
- 36.5650° N
118.7730° W - Biome
- Mixed-conifer montane forest
- Largest tree
- General Sherman — c. 52,500 ft³
(1,487 m³), 275 ft tall - Status
- Established 25 September 1890
- Best visited
- Late spring–early autumn
The short answer
Sequoia National Park protects groves of giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in California's southern Sierra Nevada. It was established on 25 September 1890, and is commonly described as the second national park in the United States and the first created to protect a living organism rather than a landscape. Its centrepiece is the General Sherman Tree in the Giant Forest, the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth by volume, with an estimated trunk volume of about 52,500 cubic feet (1,487 cubic metres), a height of 275 feet, and an age estimated between roughly 2,200 and 2,700 years.
Why it's worth knowing
Giant sequoias are not the tallest trees — coast redwoods, a related but different species growing in California's coastal fog belt, hold that record. Nor are they the widest or the oldest. What makes the General Sherman exceptional is the combination: height and girth together, producing more wood in one organism than anything else alive.
But the more interesting fact is reproductive. A giant sequoia cone can remain closed and green on the branch for up to twenty years. It opens when heat dries it and the scales shrink — which in practice means it opens when the forest burns. The seeds then land on bare mineral soil, which is also something fire produces, by clearing the litter and undergrowth that would otherwise smother them.
Decades of suppression let shade-tolerant white fir crowd the understorey and fuel accumulate on the ground. The National Park Service now sets prescribed fires deliberately, which is the correct response and a strange thing to have to explain to visitors.
The field notes
Before the park
The Monache and Yokuts peoples lived in and managed these forests for thousands of years, using controlled burning to clear brush and encourage food plants — a practice that maintained roughly the fire regime the sequoias require.
Nineteenth-century logging arrived with different intentions. Sequoia timber is brittle and giant sequoias often shattered when felled, so a great deal of the wood cut was wasted; the groves were logged anyway. Congress established the park on 25 September 1890 in direct response. A companion reserve protecting the General Grant Tree, created days later, eventually became part of Kings Canyon National Park; the two have been administered jointly since 1943.
What the bark does
The bark of a mature giant sequoia is thick, fibrous, and rich in tannin, which resists both fire and insects. Published figures for its thickness vary widely — from several inches to a couple of feet — and it is what allows a mature tree to stand through ground fires that kill nearly everything around it.
The limits of that protection became the subject of urgent research after the Castle Fire of 2020 and the KNP Complex of 2021, which burned with a severity the groves had not experienced in the modern record, reaching into crowns rather than staying on the ground. In September 2021, as the KNP Complex approached the Giant Forest, National Park Service crews wrapped the base of the General Sherman Tree and nearby structures in fire-resistant aluminium blankets. The tree came through undamaged.
Elsewhere the losses were severe. Published estimates of mature sequoias killed across the 2020 and 2021 seasons range from thousands to over ten thousand trees, and the figure remains contested among ecologists.
An argument about a name
The familiar story is that the Austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher named the genus Sequoia in honour of Sequoyah, the Cherokee polymath who devised the Cherokee syllabary. It is repeated widely, including by US federal agencies.
It may not be true. A 2012 etymological study reported that Endlicher's surviving journals make no mention of Sequoyah at all, and argued the connection was a later attribution rather than the botanist's intent. The alternative derivations proposed are less satisfying and less certain. The honest position is that the naming of the most famous tree genus in North America is unresolved.
The bark, struck with a fist. It gives — spongy and fibrous rather than hard — and returns a dull thud instead of the crack you expect from wood. Rangers sometimes invite visitors to try it. That softness is the armour: thick, tannin-rich, and the reason a two-thousand-year-old tree can stand through a fire that kills everything growing beside it.
Getting there
Fresno Yosemite International Airport is the nearest useful airport, roughly two hours by road from the Giant Forest; Visalia is closer with limited service. There is no rail or scheduled bus into the park, so a vehicle or an organised tour is effectively required. The Generals Highway, which links the main groves, is steep and heavily switchbacked.
Tyre chains may be required in winter storms even when roads are open. Check National Park Service alerts before travelling: parts of the park have closed in recent years for active wildfire, and some groves remain closed for post-fire recovery.
Common questions
What is the largest tree in the world?
The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth by volume, with an estimated trunk volume of about 52,500 cubic feet (1,487 cubic metres) and a height of 275 feet. It is not the tallest tree; coast redwoods grow taller.
How old is the General Sherman Tree?
Estimates range from roughly 2,200 to 2,700 years across published sources. The tree has not been cored or felled for a precise ring count, so every figure given for its age is an estimate derived from comparable trees rather than a direct measurement.
Do giant sequoias need fire?
Yes, in a specific sense. Giant sequoia cones are largely serotinous, remaining closed on the branch for up to twenty years and opening when fire dries them and the scales shrink. The seeds then need the bare mineral soil that fire exposes. Periodic low-to-moderate fire is part of the species' reproductive cycle.
Are giant sequoias the same as coast redwoods?
No. Giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) grow on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and are more massive by volume. Coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) grow in California's coastal fog belt and grow taller. They are related but distinct species.
Why did firefighters wrap the General Sherman Tree in foil?
In September 2021, as the KNP Complex wildfire approached the Giant Forest, National Park Service crews wrapped the base of the General Sherman Tree and several nearby structures in fire-resistant aluminium blankets as a precaution. The tree was not damaged.
Is Sequoia National Park named after Sequoyah?
The widely repeated account credits the genus name to Sequoyah, the Cherokee polymath who devised the Cherokee syllabary, and it is repeated by US federal agencies. A 2012 etymological study reported that botanist Stephan Endlicher's surviving journals never mention Sequoyah, leaving the origin genuinely disputed.