Project Profile: Southern Sierra Nevada Parks Forest Resilience

A giant sequoia.

NPS / Kiel Maddox

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Federal Lands | FY23 $270,000

The National Park Service project will improve forest resilience through restoration of fire damaged forests and thinning dense stands. The project will conduct field surveys, grow and plant seedlings, and thin fuels to protect forests in Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Why? These forests are of immense economic, social, and ecological importance and include the last remaining old growth giant sequoias on earth. The Southern Sierra Nevada has been the most heavily hit portion of California with respect to drought, fire, and tree mortality. The result is unhealthy forest conditions - overly dense stands with high levels of mortality and dead trees that fuel potential fires, as well as in fire damaged stands that will not fully recover forest cover without reforestation.

What Else? All work will be conducted in partnership with scientists and field staff from U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service, and Sequoia Parks Conservancy. Restoration of climate and wildfire resilient forests benefits watershed health and the people, plants, and animals that rely on it.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – Ecosystem Restoration

This project was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – Ecosystem Restoration, signed on November 15, 2021. It is a historic investment in the restoration and protection of the environment.