Beginning tomorrow, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks will initiate emergency actions to protect giant sequoias from the threats posed by high-intensity wildfire. Park staff will remove and reduce dense vegetation and other potential fire fuel sources in and around 11 giant sequoia groves that are especially at risk. Between 2020 and 2021, 13% to 19% of the world’s population of large giant sequoias were killed by three large wildfires (the Castle, Windy, and KNP Complex Fires), including several thousand trees in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. While giant sequoias require frequent low- to moderate-intensity fire for healthy growth and regeneration, these fires burned so intensely that they overwhelmed even these great survivors’ natural defenses. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have a prescribed burning program that dates back more than 50 years. These decades of work have proven to be effective in areas such as the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park and Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park. This work will help protect many of the more remote giant sequoias by reducing the amount of hazardous fuel in thus-far untreated groves. We will issue further communications about individual project components, such as any anticipated smoke impacts or closures!