By Lauren Jennings

Hundreds of acres and thousands of giant monarch trees in the Sequoia National Forest were lost following fires over the last two years, prompting the U.S. Forest Service to come up with a plan to protect the trees that still remain. The Giant Sequoia Emergency Response was announced this week, to reduce the wildfire risk currently threatening the giant sequoia groves throughout California. …All but five of the 37 giant sequoia groves in national forests throughout California have burned or partially burned in recent wildfires. …This week’s emergency response allows fire crews to start clearing the fuel throughout 11 groves considered “extremely vulnerable to high severity fire” all throughout the forest. …Next, fire crews will use mechanical treatments to remove excessive fuels and prescribed burning where appropriate. The process will be repeated every 10 years. …Controlled burns are necessary to remove dead and desiccated material from the national park and forest landscape.