Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
The Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks is the consolidated management structure for Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park in California. The two parks have been jointly administered since 1943. They have a combined size of 1,353 square miles (3,500 km2). It was designated the UNESCO Sequoia-Kings Canyon Biosphere Reserve in 1976.
It is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The Parks feature a wide variety of animals that include over 200 species of birds, gregarious slender salamander, western toad, western spadefoot toad, rainbow trout, coyote, wolverine, Mexican free-tailed bat, rubber boa, common kingsnake, and many more.
The area now occupied by the parks was originally inhabited by Native Americans. The Monache tribes, for example, would use the mountain passes as trade routes. As European settlers explored and settled in California, the indigenous population decreased rapidly due to the spread of foreign diseases such as smallpox. Preserving the area was not a priority for the settlers, who saw the area as a place for plentiful resources, particularly the sequoia trees (Sequoiadendron giganteum), as they were extremely plentiful and easily accessible. The Indians living there found themselves losing their only means of survival, and as a result of their desperation, they turned toward theft and crimes against the Spanish settlers in order to survive.
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