Redwood Mountain Grove - Whitaker Forest
Map SatelliteThe Redwood Mountain Grove of Sequoiadendron giganteum is the second largest extant grove of sequoias. About 80% of the grove lies within the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks, with the remainder extending westward into the Whitaker Forest and also lapping over into the adjacent Forest Service lands.
It is a mature, steady grove, with a wide variety of age classes. In most of the grove the mature sequoias are at a density of between 5 and 8 per acre (0.4 hectare); however, in the Sugar Bowl area, covering less than 1 hectare (2.5 acres), the canopy density of the sequoia reaches 90%, between 15 and 20 per acre, among the highest known. One of the trees in the grove ties with one in the South Calaveras Grove as being the tallest known, 94.5 meters (310 feet).
Several other conifers are found in the sequoia community here, sugar pine, Pinus lambertiana, ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, and incense cedar, Calocedrus decurrens. Red fir, Abies magnifica, is an important element of the community in the higher sections of the forest.
Portions of the grove are on soils derived from matamorphic schists. Both the Big Baldy and the Buena Vista Groves are considered a part of this grove. The Whitaker Forest area is used for experimental purposes.
Portions of the western part of the grove have been logged. In 1887 intensive lumbering operations removed all but 208 of the climax sequoias.
Also see Alder Creek Grove and Belknap Grove.
March 1978
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman