National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 261 | Coming to the Aid of Giant Sequoias

By Jess Repanshek - February 11th, 2024

Stand before a giant sequoia tree in Sequoia or Kings Canyon national parks or nearby Yosemite National Park and you’re overwhelmed by their size, and assume they’re impervious to anything that might be thrown at them. But as we learned from wildfires in 2020 and 2021 in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, that’s not the case.

The Castle Fire in 2020 and then the KNP Complex and Windy fires in 2021 that burned through the two parks destroyed thousands of giant sequoia trees. Estimates put the losses at more than 14,000 mature trees, or roughly 13-19 percent of the world’s giant sequoias.

At the Sequoia Parks Conservancy, just days after the KNP complex fires started in September of 2021 plans were being made to raise funds to help the National Park Service restore and recover areas in the two parks that were burned. Today we’re discussing the ongoing recovery work with Savannah Boiano, the executive director of the Sequoia Parks Conservancy.

0:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
0:12 Episode Intro with Kurt Repanshek
1:12 Sieur de Monts - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
1:27 Interior Federal Credit Union
1:54 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
2:18 Episode 261 - Coming to the Aid of Giant Sequoias
26:51 Big Country - Randy Petersen - The Sounds of Yellowstone
27:12 NPT Promo
27:49 Great Smoky Mountains Association
28:14 Episode 261 - Coming to the Aid of Giant Sequoias Continues
50:08 Schoodic - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
50:38 Episode Closing
51:09 Orange Tree Productions
51:41 Splitbeard Productions
51:52 National Parks Traveler footer

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 326 | Environmental Partisanship

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That’s a particularly interesting question, no doubt more so in recent years as the country seems to have drifted farther and farther apart because of our political beliefs. To that point, a reader reached out the other day to say our stories shouldn’t be negative on the Trump Administration because the national parks are going to need the help of all of us - Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and everything in-between - to survive.

May 25th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 325 | Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

News around public lands these days seems to revolve entirely around the Trump administration. In the case of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, many of the steps the administration is taking with the operational efficiencies of the National Park Service and other land management agencies certainly are keeping PEER busy.

May 18th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 324 | North American Bird Declines

True birders are some of the most determined and persistent hobbyists out there. If you want to call bird watching a hobby. For many, it’s more like a passion. Many look forward to “Big Day” competitions, where individuals and teams strive to see how many different bird species they can spot in a 24-hour period.

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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 323 | Walt Dabney and Public Lands

It’s fair to say that the nation’s public lands, those managed by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and other federal land-management agencies are at risk under the Trump administration.

There’s no hyperbole in that statement if you pay attention to what the administration already has done in terms of downsizing those agencies’ workforces, and when you listen to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum say he wants to open more public lands to energy development and mining.

May 4th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 322 | Congressman Jared Huffman

The first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term might be the most tumultuous first 100 days of any president. He certainly came in prepared to move his agenda forward, no matter what barriers to it existed.

We don’t usually discuss presidential politics, but President Trump has released a blizzard of executive orders and directives touching all corners of the federal government, including the National Park Service.

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