Reflections of the Audubon Society Giant Sequoias:
Their Place in the Ecosystem and Society1
Daniel Taylor2
Abstract-The giant sequoia is one of the world's most awe-inspiring
creations. It is an important element of the west's ancient forest habitat that
was once widespread, but has been reduced to one-tenth of its former extent
due to a century of intensive logging. Decisions about the management of
these groves must reflect our best science together with a sensitivity for the
social and aesthetic importance of the species. Audubon believes the plight
of the sequoia must be viewed within the overall context of the Sierra
Nevada. The Sierra without the sequoia would be a tragically lessened
place. But so would a sequoia grove without many of the other older
forest-dependent wildlife considered at risk in the Sierra. Audubon's vision
for the sequoia and for the Sierra Nevada is one of forests that work,
producing effective biodiversity protection, clean water, clean air, and
needed recreational opportunities: and working forests in which ecologically sustainable quantities of high quality forest products can be produced.
Audubon supports a scientifically-based management and protection strategy
for the sequoia. We call on the Forest Service and the political leaders of that
agency to heed the public call for the increased protection and careful
stewardship of the sequoia and the Sierra Nevada.
It is indeed a privilege to be with you today, participating
in these important discussions concerning one of our planet's
most awe-inspiring creations. We are pleased to be both a
contributor to, and a sponsor of this event. I regret that my
time here has been too limited and that I was not able to join
with you on a field trip yesterday. But I took my own sequoia
field trip this past Father's Day. With my wife and eight year
old son, I packed a small picnic lunch and drove up to the
Placer County sequoia grove on the Tahoe National Forest.
As you know, this grove composed of six ancient trees
and two downed logs is the northernmost grove of the sequoia.
It is also one of my favorite places in the Sierra. Only 2
hours from downtown Sacramento, it offers the opportunity
to experience the majesty of the giant sequoia, accompanied
by the sugar pine, ponderosa pine, and Douglas-fir, all far
older than our republic. This seemed a good place to spend a
Father's Day. When I think of my own father, I recall his
strength, and his stability, his patience, and his seeming
permanence in my life-all of these attributes symbolized in
a different way by these trees. He was old when I was young.
The largest tree in this grove is the General Pershing
Tree. My own son walked up to this tree, and against it he
appeared tiny and ephemeral. I reflected for a few moments
how temporary we are when compared to the sequoia. This
tree was a sapling at the time of Christ. It will outlive me,
and outlive my son. If he is privileged to have children, it
1
An abbreviated version of this paper was presented at the Symposium
on Giant Sequoias: Their Place in the Ecosystem and Society, June 23-25,
1992, Visalia, California.
2
Western Regional Representative. National Audubon Society, 555
Audubon Place, Sacramento, CA 95825
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep.PSW-151. 1994.
will outlive them too for generations to come. So there, in
this natural cathedral, I experienced the sequoia, and the
azaleas still in flower, and dogwoods now passed their peak.
When a hermit warbler flew by, giving us a great look at a
bird more often heard than seen, the day was complete.
My assignment today is to share my observations with
you regarding the giant sequoia and its place in the ecosystem
and our society. I accept this challenge readily, both as a
representative of a large environmental group, and as an
environmental staff person of 15 years, the last eight of
which have been devoted with ever greater intensity to the
management and protection of our forests. It is my lot, either
good or bad, to be one of the few members in the California
forest protection community to be active in the debate over
forest management on both the public lands and the private
lands. Today, I wish to focus most of my remarks on the
public lands, in accord with our theme of the giant sequoia.
The National Audubon Society's mission is to conserve
and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other
wildlife for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological
diversity. With 550,000 members and 600 local chapters
throughout the Western Hemisphere, Audubon applies its
expertise in science, education, habitat management, political
action and grassroots involvement to accomplish its goals.
National Audubon's top environmental objectives include
the protection of America's ancient forests.
Audubon's Vision: Forests Which Work
The ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest and California are the last survivors of vast primeval forests that
covered much of America when the first colonists arrived.
After a century of intensive logging, less than a tenth of the
western ancient forests remain, nearly all on public land.
These publicly-owned forests are to be managed for multiple
use. Yet, the agencies in charge, have historically put the
needs of the timber industry first in making important
decisions about management. Today, the legacy of this
imbalance is a forest environment in which biological
diversity is at severe risk.
The giant sequoia plays a key role in Sierra Nevada
forest ecology. It also occupies a special place in American
culture and legend, and is considered by many to be the
"king" of the plant world. In the past, Audubon has severely
criticized specific management decisions which have harmed
the giant sequoia. Many here are more expert than I in the
history and management of the sequoia, and the Sequoia
National Forest. Place names like Converse Basin, Starvation
Creek, and Long Meadow evoke powerful feelings between
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people and their government of deep controversies, mistrust,
alienation and possibly regret.
Audubon believes the plight of the sequoia must be
viewed within the overall context of the Sierra Nevada. The
Sierra without the sequoia would be a tragically lessened
place. But so would a sequoia grove without the spotted owl,
great grey owl, Sierra Nevada red fox, fisher, goshawk, and
the California condor. The sequoia cannot truly be protected
when it alone is the focus of society's consideration. What's
at stake is more important: the health of an entire regional
ecosystem. It is accurate to call the giant sequoia one of the
crown jewels of the Sierra Nevada. But what purpose are
crown jewels without a crown in which to place them?
Audubon's vision for the sequoia and for the Sierra
Nevada is one of forests which work, producing, through
scientifically sound management and protection strategies,
effective biodiversity protection, clean water, clean air,
and needed recreational opportunities for an expanding
human population.
This vision is far from reality today. In the United
States, the environmental community has attempted to change
the timber first philosophies of our forestry agencies. We
have gone to the courts and asked at least that the laws be
obeyed. Conservative judges have enforced the law, and this
has stopped some timber sales which threaten ecological
values. In many respects, the collective memory of agency
promises made, but not kept, are powerful. When the Chief
of the U.S.D.A., Forest Service embraced "ecosystem management" for the national forests and grasslands earlier this
month, his announcement was greeted with deep skepticism
from the environmental community. Faith in words alone is
no longer enough. Because there is no longer faith in words
alone. Practical, enforceable, on-the-ground management
directives are needed.
We also want working forests in which ecologically
sustainable quantities of high quality forest products can be
produced. We recognize that California ranks as one of the
world's largest consumers of forest products. Each year, we
use in the form of dimensional lumber, plywood, paper and
wood by-products about 10 billion board feet. And both
public and private forests of California have been producing
about 4 billion board feet of these products. Therefore, each
year we import 60 percent of the wood products we use.
Audubon takes no comfort in merely shifting the overcutting
of California's forests to some other part of the country, or
worse yet to another country in which logging is done with
even fewer environmental regulations. However, all human
uses of our natural resources including logging must be
scaled to the land's ability to provide timber, soil, water, fish
and wildlife in perpetuity, not to a mere abstract socioeconomic perception of what these uses ought to be.
Forest Protection Strategies
I would like to discuss some specific initiatives which
Audubon supports to bring life to our vision on forestry. In
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the midst of the forest policy crisis now gripping our region,
several opportunities for solutions exist.
Audubon supports legislation now being considered in
the Congress to protect and restore National Forest ecosystems. The bill, House Resolution 4899 is being actively
debated in both the House Agriculture Committee and Interior
Committee. We urge the Congress to pass this important bill
provided it continues to carry levels of forest protection
which help ensure the long-term existence of old-growth and
late seral stage forest ecosystems. Included in the bill
are powerful incentives for worker retraining and community stability. This is a good bill which will help us protect
and mend our forests while being mindful of the human
costs involved. Contrary to claims made by certain environmental opponents, we do not seek a new religion which
worships trees and sacrifices people.
Our political system depends on the promise of compromise. But the issue of ancient forest protection is one where
it is not possible to simply "split the difference" between
competing factions. Solutions must be based on strong science.
Compromises which ignore science are doomed to fail.
Species and ecosystems will continue to decline, ushering
forth petition after petition for new endangered species and
the rigid regulations which follow.
We also strongly support the provisions in HR 4899 for
a comprehensive study and interim protections for the national
forest lands in the Sierra Nevada. The need to protect the
few remaining blocks of unroaded habitat still existing in the
range is crucial. So is the need for an objective, ecologicallybased study to help guide long-term management. The Sierra
is a complex area. It is largely an altered landscape that for
almost 150 years has been impacted by grazing, unwise
logging, mining, population growth, road building, hydroelectric development, and fire suppression. Only through a
comprehensive, scientific study done by competent, unbiased,
recognized authorities can we hope to find credible answers
to the challenges of maintaining and restoring a Sierra
Nevada rich in wildlife and forests, and suitable for
appropriate, sustainable development.
We support the adoption of interim direction proposed by
the California Spotted Owl Technical Team in its May 8,
1992 report. This report represents the best scientific
statement to date on the status of the California spotted owl.
The recommendations contained in this important report
will maintain needed options to protect the owl over the long
term. We urge that its recommendations be implemented.
We support a forest protection strategy for the giant
sequoia. Management within groves must be ecologically
driven, reflective of the best, most accepted scientific understanding, and only be aimed at improving forest health.
Sequoia groves should remain removed from the timber
base, and any volume produced should not be counted toward
timber targets for a forest or ranger district. The incentives
to cut in order to satisfy timber targets must never again
exist. In the case of the sequoia, we are stewards of a
resource of planetary significance.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep.PSW-151. 1994
We are working hard to pass state legislation to reform
private land forest practices. Currently, a package of bills
commonly known as the "Grand Accord" (Senate Bills 300
and 854, and Assembly Bills 641 and 714) enjoys support
from responsible voices in the timber industry and the environmental community. Sadly, the Grand Accord finds itself
stuck in the California State Assembly. If passed it would
help assure a sustainable private forest industry in California. It
would accomplish the difficult goal of integrating public
resource protection and private investment in forest land,
people, and equipment which this state needs.
Future Goals
In conclusion, any discussion about the future of the
sequoias, or the Sierra Nevada requires reflection on the
future of the Forest Service. It is well reported that the
agency finds itself mired in crisis, and stuck between changing
management paradigms. As we ponder a future for this
agency, we should take lessons from its past. The Forest
Service of 1905 was a small agency with spirit, pride, and
idealism. In his autobiography Pinchot wrote, "Every member
of the Service realized that it was engaged in a great and
necessary undertaking in which the whole future of their
country was at stake. The Service had a clear understanding of
where it was going, it was determined to get there, and it was
never afraid to fight for what was right."
Perhaps it is only at times of crisis that courage and
leadership emerge. Sadly, our nation's forest policy leadership has provided an object lesson in both delay and denial
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep.PSW-151. 1994.
in its management of forest lands. It is my personal hope,
and that of Audubon, that the Forest Service, and those
political leaders who oversee it will heed the emerging
public land values of the 1990's: clean air, clean water,
wildlife habitat, sustainable economic development, and
recreational opportunities.
I am impressed with today's generation of leadership of
the Forest Service in California and the California Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection. Their desire to move forward
with a more ecologically sensitive management philosophy
is encouraging. We welcome this trend, and we want to work
with the agencies, the industry and our political leadership to
help accomplish a new, sustainable management paradigm
for our forests. But we don't have much time.
Society would be well served if this conference helped
usher forth a new beginning in the management of the sequoia
and the Sierra Nevada. A renewed stewardship commitment
based on strong science would help heal the anger and
alienation brought forth by decisions of the past. Such a shift
would be an appropriate gift to future generations of people
and sequoias alike.
References
Pinchot, Gifford. 1947. Breaking new ground. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Verner, Jared; McKelvey, Kevin S.; Noon, Barry R.; Gutierrez, R.J.;
Gould, Gordon I., Jr.; Beck, Thomas W., technical coordinators. 1992.
The California spotted owl: a technical assessment of its current status.
Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-133. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture; 285 p..
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