8 American Midland, Naturalist Monograph No. 4 



Kings Canyon National Park 



The Kings Canyon National Park is one of the newest of our western 

 national parks. It lies immediately to the north of Sequoia National Park, 

 the Kings-Kern Divide forming a common boundary between the two. Ele- 

 vations range from about 4,600 feet at the Kings Canyon entrance to 13,000 

 feet along the Sierra Crest. Drainage is mostly by way of the Kings River, 

 but a small section of the northern part drains into the South Fork of the 

 San Joaquin River. 



Detailed information concerning the forests of the Kings Canyon National 

 Park is limited since no extensive botanical work has been done covering the 

 whole area, but the flora is comparable in most respects to that of Sequoia 

 National Park. Entering the park along the South Fork of the Kings River, 

 one comes into the spectacular steep-walled Kings Canyon, in many ways 

 similar to the Yosemite Valley. The forest is composed primarily of white 

 fir (Abies concolor), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), sugar pine (Pinus 

 Lambertiana) , and incense cedar (Libocedrus decurrens). Along streams 

 may be found bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) , white alder (Alnus 

 rhombifolia) , black cottonwood (Populus trkhocarpa) , and willows (Salix 

 sp.). Canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis) and California black oak 

 (Quercus Kelloggi) occur on the drier hillsides. Several bigtree groves 

 [Sequoia gigantea) , including the General Grant Grove, are located in this 

 forest belt. Shrubby associates include mountain whitethorn ceanothus 

 (Ceanotbus cordulatus) , deerbrush ceanothus (Ceanothus integerrimus) , and 

 western thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) . 



Above 7,000 feet the white fir and ponderosa pine are replaced by Shasta 

 red fir (Abies magnifica var. shastensis) and Jeffrey pine (Pinus Jejfreyi), 

 while incense cedar and sugar pine gradually disappear and western white pine 

 (Pinus monticola) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) become common. 

 Some of the shrub species seen here are greenleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos 

 patula), Yosemite buckthorn (Rhamnus rubra var. yosemitana) , Sierra cur- 

 rant (Ribes nevadense), gooseberry currant (Rtbes montigenum), Sierra 

 gooseberry (Ribes Roezli), and Pacific mountain ash (Sorbus sitchensis) . 



At the higher elevations in certain localities are found foxtail pine (Pinus 

 Baljouriana) and mountain hemlock (Tsuga Mertensiana) . Whitebark pine 

 (Pmus albicaulis) is common at and just below timberline. Aspen (Populus 

 tremuloides) and several species of willow occur along the borders of the upper 

 meadows. Rocky mountain maple (Acer glabrum), subalpine spiraea (Spi- 

 raea densiflora) , and wax currant (Ribes cereum) are also found. Such 

 species as Brewer mountainheath (Phyllodoce Breweri) , Labrador tea (Ledum 

 glandulosum), and low alpine willows are found in the meadows above 

 timberline. 



Sequoia National Park 



. Sequoia National Park is located in the southern part of the Sierra 

 Nevada. The area ranges in elevation from about 1,500 feet along the 

 western boundary near Ash Mountain to 14,501 feet at the top of Mount 



