A large giant sequoia in the Bearskin Grove, Giant Sequoia National Monument, Aug. 18, 2022 — photo by Claudia Elliott
It’s about a year since my husband and I returned to live in Tehachapi, California, after six years living on the southern Oregon coast. Moving such a distance is difficult and even harder when you reach a certain age. But we have more sunshine here and that’s been good for my disposition.
I’ve been busy in my writing life and in July I had a couple of opportunities to write about Sequoia National Forest, a topic that was my focus for about 10 years beginning in mid-1999.
I find public land management decisions to be very interesting. And the challenge of drought and wildfire make it even more difficult for the Forest Service and other agencies to balance competing interests.
Even if everyone agreed on how these lands should be managed, difficult choices must be made. I have watched with interest the land that was set apart as Giant Sequoia National Monument in April 2000. Many people in the communities near (or surrounded by) the monument were unhappy with that decision. More than 20 years later I am wondering if the management decisions are achieving “the proper care and management of the objects to be protected,” as called for in the presidential proclamation.
As I began researching this, I decided to organize my thoughts and relevant material with a website I have called “Giant Sequoia News” and a weekly newsletter about giant sequoias and related matters. You can get a sneak peak HERE. And you can subscribe to the free weekly newsletter HERE. And check my portfolio for links to some of my published work elsewhere.