Sequoia and Kings Canyon Field Station

The Sierra Nevada Range forms the backbone of California, supplying the nation's most populous state with irreplaceable resources such as water, timber, and recreational opportunities. The southern portion of this range climbs from near sea level to 14,495 feet elevation in less than 60 miles, supporting an extraordinary diversity of plants and wildlife.  

The Sequoia and Kings Canyon Field Station was established in 1968 to provide client agencies scientific information for sound management of national parks and other federal lands in the Sierra Nevada. The field station's research currently focuses on four stressors identified by the congressionally mandated Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project as being particularly threatening to Sierra Nevada ecosystems: loss of natural fire regimes, exotic species invasion, air pollution, and human-induced increase in global temperatures.  

To address these issues, the Sequoia and Kings Canyon Field Station has formed strong research partnerships with the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, University of California, and many other universities. Current research includes studies of historical landscape change and fire regimes, effects of stressors on forest ecosystems, invasive plant response to disturbance, and the effects of prescribed fire on stream chemistry and hydrology.