This week, forest fires are burning
in Yosemite and threatening groves of giant sequoias.
In the late 1800s Sir Joseph
Hooker said he had never seen a coniferous forest that rivaled the Sierra's
because of the grandeur of its individual trees and the number of its
species.
The Ahwahnechee and their
ancestors lived in Yosemite Valley for hundreds of years. Acorns from black
oaks made up 60 percent of their food.
The prime growing area for
the ponderosa pine is in the Sierra.
