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William Croft, (+44) 61-445 1210, Individual, Giant Sequoia Preservation Act, 3 /3/94 



1970s. In the Bearskin grove, a giant sequoia fell in 1990 apparently 

 from wind, seven years after logging, which demonstrates that the 

 isolated giant sequoias remaining have a precarious future. In the Tule 

 River District, vast tracts of one of the finest groves, Black Mountain 

 Grove, were logged, and logging was planned in the two most popular 

 recreational groves, Mclntyre and Freeman Creek Groves. Replanting 

 of giant sequoias has not been successful due to heat and dessication of 

 sequoia seedlings in the exposed areas. (This area is in the sothemmost 

 part of the sequoia's range.) In the CaUfomia Hot Springs District, 

 timber sales were unnecessarily placed exactly in the Peyrone Grove in 

 an otherwise virgin timber area, and logging occurred in a grove with a 

 California condor nest, a violation of the Endangered Species Act in 

 spirit if not in letter. At least one grove (Long Meadow Grove) was 

 replanted with a monoculture Ponderosa pine plantation, demonstrating 

 that the Forest Service intended to relog the area, not to "enhance 

 sequoia regrowth", their official reason for logging the groves. 



These actions demonstrate that the Forest Service, if left to its own 

 regulations, will not respect the scientific and recreational values of the 

 giant sequoia groves. The latest Forest Plan prohibits logging in the 

 giant sequoia groves. However, it was adopted only after a lawsuit and 

 eighteen months of grueling mediation. It will last only for the planning 

 period, no more than ten or fifteen years. Even this plan allows 

 virtually the entire Converse Basin (2500 acres) to be logged of its 

 second-growth giant sequoias. The Forest Service protected the giant 

 sequoias by its regulations for thirty years, but when it changed its 

 mind, it simply discarded the regulations and logged indiscriminately. 

 The only solution to prevent this from happening again, and to allow the 

 damaged groves to recover, is to legislate statutory protection. 



H.R. 2153, the bill under consideration at these hearings, will 

 provide exactly that protection. The giant sequoia groves in Sequoia 

 National Forest occur in small stands that cannot survive as ecological 

 units by themselves if surrounded by clearcut land. H.R. 2153 calls for a 

 giant sequoia preserve that will ensure the survival of the sequoia 

 groves as parts of the Sierran mixed conifer ecosystem. The mixed 

 conifer forest of the Sierras is one of the greatest forests I have walked 

 in, and is quite distinct in composition from its more famous brethren in 

 the Pacific Northwest. The beauty and peace of these forests is a major 

 part of these forest's value to the American people. This is a resource 

 which is renewed every time my family or any American walks in 

 them, and which can last unbroken in time for endless generations; but 

 only if their biological health is preserved. This requires the inclusion 

 of the watersheds in which the sequoia groves are found, and that is 

 accounted for in H.R. 2153. It also requires the proper management of 

 fire in the forest, in order to prevent conflagrations such as those that 



