ARNOLD, Calif., April 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition (GSLC) today released its 2025 Progress Report, showcasing significant advances in protecting the world's remaining giant sequoia groves from shifting climates, catastrophic wildfire and emerging threats such as bark beetles. A team of scientists commissioned by GSLC has also released a “State of the Giant Sequoias” report.

GSLC partners have conducted restoration activities in 44 of the world’s 94 sequoia groves since 2022, reducing the risk of extreme wildfires and improving overall forest health. In 2025, Coalition members conducted forest resilience treatments on 4,508 acres across 25 groves, advancing the momentum of this collaborative effort. Since its formation following the devastating 2020 and 2021 fire seasons—when the Castle Fire, KNP Complex Fire and Windy Fire killed thousands of ancient sequoias—the Coalition has treated a total of 23,251 acres across 44 groves (out of 94) and planted more than 682,000 native trees.

"The Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition demonstrates the power of collaboration across jurisdictions and agencies,” said Coalition Co-Chair Kevin Conway, state forests program manager for CAL FIRE. “The Coalition's work is strengthened when every partner brings scientific rigor to grove management. We're proud to work alongside federal, Tribal and nonprofit partners to protect the giant sequoias, reduce wildfire fuels in overgrown groves and plant native trees in areas where regrowth isn’t happening naturally after recent megafires."

Giant sequoia ecosystems provide essential habitat for wildlife, they can store vast amounts of carbon, protect waterways and water quality, support the cultural and spiritual practices of Tribal communities and anchor a thriving outdoor recreation economy. A recent GSLC report on the state of the giant sequoias confirms that since 2015, more than 17% of the world’s mature giant sequoias died from megafires, primarily during the catastrophic fires of 2020 and 2021. Years of fire exclusion policies, drought and increasing temperatures were the primary drivers of the extreme wildfires that killed so many of the large, old trees.

Highlights from the 2025 Report:

• Fuels Reduction and Forest Health: Coalition members treated 2,021 acres within sequoia groves and an additional 2,952 acres in surrounding buffer zones using prescribed fire, cultural burning and thinning. This critical work helps groves survive wildfire by moderating their intensity and severity.
  
  
• Reforestation: Members planted 65,345 locally sourced native trees in 2025, focusing on high-severity burn areas where seed trees have died and the number of new seedlings is exceptionally low.
  
  
• Cultural Burning Partnership: The Coalition expanded its collaboration with regional Tribes, including the Tule River Tribe, North Fork Mono Tribe and Tübatulabal Tribe, who are leading cultural burns at Alder Creek and other groves. These burns not only reduce wildfire risk but also restore Indigenous land management practices, promote culturally significant plants and reconnect Tribal youth with traditional ecological knowledge.
  
  
• Data-Driven Prioritization: The GSLC Grove Assessment Task Force, in partnership with Plumas Corp and Conservation Biology Institute, completed a data-driven prioritization analysis ranking all 94 giant sequoia groves by vulnerability to wildfire, drought and lack of regeneration. This will help the Coalition prioritize efforts for the most at-risk groves.
  
  
• Emergency Response: When the August 2025 Garnet Fire threatened McKinley Grove, GSLC identified the grove as one of the most vulnerable and the California Interagency Incident Management Team 10 deployed extraordinary measures—including sprinklers, aerial retardant and specialized tree climbers—to save the grove's ancient monarchs. While some of the grove’s 200 giant sequoia trees sustained heat damage, most survived, underscoring both the value of preparedness and the urgent need to treat vulnerable groves before fire strikes.
  
  
• Groves Treated in 2025: Alder Creek, Atwell/East Fork, Belknap, Big Stump, Black Mountain, Board Camp, Cherry Gap, Cold Springs, Converse Basin, Evans Complex, Freeman Creek, Grant, Homers Nose, Landslide, Mariposa, McKinley, Middle Tule, Mountain Home, Nelder, New Oriole Lake, Packsaddle, Parker Peak, Red Hill, Redwood Mountain, Upper Dillonwood.
  

Four Years of Impact

Since 2022, the Coalition has:

• Treated 23,251 acres across 44 groves (of 94)
• Planted 682,476 native trees
• Conducted 4,643 acres of broadcast burning
• Completed 3,669 acres of pile burning
• Expanded treatments to include 11,454 acres of buffer zones around groves
  

"The threats to giant sequoias haven't diminished, but our collective response has grown stronger," said Ben Blom, co-chair of the GSLC restoration working group and director of stewardship and restoration for Save the Redwoods League. "When all of the sequoia land managers align around shared goals and pool resources, we can accomplish what no single entity could do alone."

Emerging Threats and Urgent Needs

Approximately 18% of the world's mature giant sequoias have been lost to extreme wildfire and research shows megafires have severely limited the trees’ ability to reproduce. The recent Garnet Fire's threat to McKinley Grove demonstrates that there is still much work to be done to protect high-risk groves.

Ongoing forest monitoring has revealed the complex interplay between drought stress, bark beetles and sequoia mortality. While beetles typically attack trees already weakened by other stressors, monitoring efforts documented bark beetle activity across 6,619 acres in 2025, signaling the need for continued vigilance.

Planned 2026 activities include continued reforestation in severely burned groves, expanded cultural burning partnerships and ongoing monitoring of seedling survival and grove health.

"In just four years, we have built significant momentum as a coalition—and we’ve accomplished a lot together,” added Blom. “Still, the overall giant sequoia range is still facing a potential emergency in light of continued wildfire threats. Our ability to continue the necessary restoration and scientific research depend on consistent funding, adequate staffing and supportive public policies.”

PARTNERSHIP IN ACTION

Members of the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California State Parks, National Park Service, Tulare County, Tule River Indian Tribe of California, University of California, Berkeley, USDA Forest Service, DOI Bureau of Land Management.

GSLC Affiliate Members: American Forests, Ancient Forest Society, Giant Sequoia National Monument Association, Save the Redwoods League, Sequoia Parks Conservancy, Southern Sierra Conservancy, Stanislaus National Forest​, US Geological Survey—Western Ecological Research Center​, Yosemite Conservancy.

About the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition

The Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition (GSLC) is a landscape-scale, multi-partner collaboration dedicated to the conservation and stewardship of the remaining giant sequoia grove ecosystems. The Coalition is composed of federal, tribal, state, and local agencies and organizations that directly manage giant sequoia groves in public, tribal, or private nonprofit ownership, known as GSLC Members. In addition, GSLC’s Affiliate Members include select federal and state conservation agencies, nongovernmental organization conservation groups, and academic research partners with a shared commitment to protect giant sequoias and their ecosystems from emerging threats associated with climate change and the extended absence of natural, low-severity wildfire processes on the landscape. Learn more at giantsequoias.org.