Giant Sequoia National Monument

Information on the
Giant Sequoia National Monument

Excerpted from the Act to Save America's Forests of 2005, S. 1897

TITLE IV—GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT

TITLE IV— GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT

SEC. 401. FINDINGS.

Congress finds that—

(1) in accordance with the Act of June 8, 1906 (16 U.S.C. 431 et seq.), the Giant Sequoia National Monument was created by presidential proclamation on April 15, 2000;

(2) the Proclamation accurately states the following: ‘‘The rich and varied landscape of the Giant Sequoia National Monument holds a diverse array of scientific and historic resources. Magnificent groves of towering giant sequoias, the world’s largest trees, are interspersed within a great belt of coniferous forest, jeweled with mountain meadows. Bold granitic domes and spires, and plunging gorges, texture the landscape. The area’s elevation climbs from about 2,500 to 9,700 feet over a distance of only a few miles, capturing an extraordinary number of habitats within a relatively small area. This spectrum of ecosystems is home to a diverse array of plants and animals, many of which are rare or endemic to the southern Sierra Nevada. The monument embraces limestone caverns and holds unique paleological resources documenting tens of thousands of years of ecosystem change. The monument also has many archaeological sites recording Native American occupation and adaptations to this complex landscape, and historic remnants of early Euroamerican settlement as well as the commercial exploitation of the giant sequoias. The monument provides exemplary opportunities for biologists, geologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, and historians to study these objects.’’;

(3) the various ecosystems cited as the basis for establishment of the Monument—

(A) extend beyond the existing boundaries of the Monument; and

(B) encompass the fragile and extremely diverse southern Sierra Nevada bioregion and the overlapping Mohave ecosystem;

(4) to protect all the ecosystems and objects described in the Proclamation, the boundaries of the Monument must be extended to provide for watershed integrity, seasonal wildlife migrations, and other benefits;

(5) even though the primary reason for establishing the Monument was to rescue the area from the effects of road building and severe logging implemented by the Forest Service, the Proclamation left the Monument under the jurisdiction of the Chief of the Forest Service;

(6) the Proclamation provides the following: ‘‘No portion of the Monument shall be considered to be suited for timber production, and no part of the Monument shall be used in a calculation or provision of a sustained yield of timber from the Sequoia National Forest.’’;

(7) the Proclamation provided that ‘‘[t]hese forests [in the Monument] need restoration to counteract the effects of a century of fire suppression and logging’’;

(8) throughout the history of the Forest Service, the Forest Service has been focused on the logging of Federal land for the purpose of selling timber;

(9) because of this emphasis on logging and for other reasons, the National Park Service would be better able to manage the Monument than the Forest Service;

(10) the National Park Service manages 73 national monuments, many of which were originally under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service and were later transferred to the National Park System by an Act of Congress or by Executive Order;

(11) national monuments were managed by different Federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, until 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt consolidated the management of national monuments in the National Park Service through Executive Order 6166 of June 10, 1933, and Executive Order 6228 of July 28, 1933;

(12) in most cases, national monuments established by presidential proclamation and assigned to the Forest Service or other Federal agencies have been ultimately transferred to the Secretary of the Interior, to be managed by the National Park Service;

(13) in a number of cases, Congress has eventually converted national monuments under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service into national parks;

(14) national monuments that were converted into national parks include the Grand Canyon National Park, Olympic National Park, and Death Valley National Park;

(15) Congress has converted large areas of national forests into some of the national parks and national monuments most cherished by the people of the United States;

(16) prominent examples of conversions in the region of the Monument are—

(A) Kings Canyon National Park, which was created out of the Sierra National Forest and Sequoia National Forest in 1940;

(B) the major eastward extension doubling the size of Sequoia National Park in 1926, with land for the addition being taken from the Sequoia National Forest; and

(C) the Mineral King addition to the Sequoia National Park in 1978, with land for the addition being taken from Sequoia National Forest;

(17) the Monument has more acres of sequoia groves than are contained in Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, and Calaveras Big Tree, which are the only national parks and State parks in which sequoias occur;

(18) the largest tree in the world 1 may still await discovery in some remote area of the Monument;

(19) to save the ecological integrity of the Monument, it is essential that the approximately 40,640 acres of land between the Western Divide (commonly known as the ‘‘Greenhorn Mountains’’) and the center line of the Kern River, south to the boundary line between Tulare and Kern counties, be included in the monument;

(20) Sequoia National Forest land, north of Sequoia National Park, should be added to the Sierra National Forest, which adjoins the Sierra National Forest on the north;

(21) for reasons of accessibility, economy, and general efficiency of operation, the remaining Sequoia National Forest territory south of Sequoia National Park belongs in the Inyo National Forest, which already shares the Golden Trout Wilderness with the Sequoia National Forest; and

(22) the overlapping jurisdiction with respect to the Sequoia National Forest territory results in needlessly wasteful management procedures.

24 SEC. 402. DEFINITIONS.

In this title:

(1) ADVISORY BOARD.—1 .—The term ‘‘Advisory Board’’ means the Giant Sequoia National Monument Advisory Board established under section 404(d)(1).

(2) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The term ‘‘management plan’’ means the management plan for the Monument required by the Proclamation.

(3) MONUMENT.—The term ‘‘Monument’’ means the Giant Sequoia National Monument established by the Proclamation.

(4) PROCLAMATION.—The term ‘‘Proclamation’’ means the Presidential Proclamation number 7295, dated April 15, 2000 (65 Fed. Reg. 24095).

(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the National Park Service.

(6) SUPERINTENDENT.—The term ‘‘Superintendent’’ means the Superintendent of the Monument appointed under section 404(c).

SEC. 403. ADDITIONS TO GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT.

(a) IN GENERAL.—There is added to the Monument—

(1) the approximately 40,640 acres of land between the Western Divide (commonly known as the ‘‘ Greenhorn Mountains’’) and the center line of the Kern River, south to the boundary line between Tulare and Kern counties; and

(2) the Jenny Lakes Wilderness.

(b) BOUNDARY REVISION.—The boundary of the Monument is revised to reflect the addition of the land to the Monument under subsection (a).

SEC. 404. TRANSFER OF ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTION OVER THE GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Administrative jurisdiction over the Monument is transferred from the Secretary of Agriculture to the Secretary.

(b) APPLICABLE LAW.—The Monument shall be administered in accordance with the Proclamation, except that any deliberations of the Chief of the Forest Service with respect to management of the Monument shall be set aside.

(d) ADVISORY BOARD.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Superintendent shall establish an advisory board, to be known as the ‘‘Giant Sequoia National Monument Advisory Board’’, comprised of 9 members, to be appointed by the Superintendent.

(2) PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT.—Members of the Advisory Board shall not be employees of the Federal Government.

(3) TERMS.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—A member of the Advisory Board shall serve for a term of not more than 4 years.

(B) INTERVALS.—The Superintendent shall appoint members of the Advisory Board in a manner that allows the terms of the members to expire at staggered intervals.

(4) DUTIES.—The Advisory Board shall—

(A) assist in the preparation of the management plan; and

(B) provide recommendations with respect to the management of the Monument.

(5) PROCEDURES.—The Superintendent shall establish procedures and standards for the Advisory Board.

(6) OPEN MEETINGS.—Meetings of the Advisory Board shall be open to the public.

(e) HEADQUARTERS.—The headquarters for the Monument shall be located at the National Park Service facility at Three Rivers, California, which is the headquarters of Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park.

(f) VISITOR CENTERS.—Visitors centers for the Monument shall be located at—

(1) Grant Grove Visitor Center in Kings Canyon National Park;

(2) Springville, the principal entrance to the west side of the southern unit of the Monument; and

(3) Kernville.

SEC. 405. ADDITIONS TO THE SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST AND INYO NATIONAL FOREST.

(a) SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The portion of the Sequoia National Forest located north of Sequoia National Park that is not included in the Monument is added to the Sierra National Forest.

(2) BOUNDARY REVISION.—The boundary of the Sequoia National Forest is adjusted to include the land added by paragraph (1).

(b) INYO NATIONAL FOREST.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The portion of the Sequoia National Forest south of Sequoia National Park that is not included in the Monument is added to the Inyo National Forest.

(2) BOUNDARY REVISION.—1 .—The boundary of the Inyo National Forest is adjusted to include the land added by paragraph (1).

SEC. 406. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out sections 404 and 405.