Impacts of climate change are felt throughout the park, and the stakes are particularly high for giant sequoias. Giant sequoias are known for their massive size and resilience, surviving through millennia. However, as global temperatures rise, a deadly combination of bark beetles, catastrophic fires, and drought have put their future in doubt.

An estimated 20 percent of the Sierra’s mature sequoias have died since 2015 — an unthinkable statistic for a species once thought to be nearly immortal. We are committed to ensuring sequoias in Yosemite and throughout the range persist for generations to come.

This project seeks to:

Fund science, research, and protective measures related to the three major threats facing sequoias: fire, insect activity, and drought.

Implement landscape-scale solutions throughout the Sierra Nevada by partnering with the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition.

Watch Last of the Monarchs, a 10-minute film emphasizing the threat of wildfire in Yosemite and throughout the Sierra.

A century of suppression-focused fire practices — following the dispersal of Indigenous people from public lands — has led to forest collapse and massive fires across the West, including in Yosemite National Park.
Now, we can help restore both people and land, funding the return of beneficial, low-intensity cultural fires to promote ecological growth and traditional ecological knowledge in Yosemite. In this way, the park can be a model, a microphone, and inspiration to people worldwide.
This project seeks to:

Fund crews dedicated to reducing obstacles to prescribed fires and identifying areas where cultural fire can be used.

Return cultural burning to traditional fire practitioners: supporting local Tribal people in acquiring firefighter qualifications; conducting cultural burns with cultural practitioners; and developing cultural burning workshops.