Hawaii: Volanic Rock

The island of Hawaii has the largest volcano on earth, Mauna Loa which accounts for its growing size. Before the Sierra Nevada’s were uplifted from earthquakes and shaped by glaciers there was metamorphic rock that sat at the surface. The park contains many different kinds of volcanic rock, quartz, and marble which are rocks that are created by metamorphic rocks. These rocks help create many of the parks beautiful rock formations and underground caves. If the Sierra Nevada’s had not gone through different periods of freezing cold glaciers and hot volcanic rock then the Sierra Nevada Mountains might have never had the beautiful topography it has today.

Information from: http://www.sequoia.national-park.com/info.htm

North Pacific Coast Isolation

 The North Pacific Coast which goes from the Northern tip of California up through Canada and Alaska has many large mountain areas covered in shrubs and trees. This region makes up about 50% of the lumber that the United States uses for building construction. The Douglas fir found in this area is most often used to build strong houses or for plywood. Sequoia’s upper region is also covered in large amounts of Douglas Fir’s along with Redwoods, and Sequoia trees. These trees are not like the maple trees or plan trees that are seen in megalopolis or other high populated areas. These trees are some of the tallest in the world with thick bark that can hold even the strongest lighting strike or fire. In these areas of lush trees there are often lower populations, they are often isolated. Alaska is greatly isolated from the rest of the United States much like the Sierra Nevada’s high mountain ranges are isolated from most of California’s over populated areas. Much like Sequoia’s most of Alaska if still protected by its government and environmentalists so that it cannot be destroyed by people.    

Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_native_plants#Sequoias_and_redwoods

CALI.I.I.fornia: Home Sweet Home!

     California is one of the largest states in the United States, but it is by far the most popular one. From its beautiful ocean coasts, flat central valley, to its scenic mountains there is so much that the state has to offer. It has plenty of water supply from its many irrigation systems that is provided from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and many different types of agriculture that provides its state and many of states with fruits, vegetables, poultry, and dairy. Not only does California provide a great deal of natural sources it is well known as the United States largest tourist attraction compared to any other state. Many other countries and even other states in the United States see California as the perfect, "American Dream." Lots of money, mansions, expensive cars, corporate jobs, and the ability to do whatever they want. Often television shows that have any of these qualities in them people assume that it is taking place in California.

     One not so positive aspect of California is its large devastating earthquakes. There are more earthquakes in this state then in any other part of the United States. Although earthquakes and destroy homes and leave cities with a lot of damage, California would not have its diverse topography it was not for the fault line plates bending and breaking to create its diverse mountain ranges like the Sierra Nevada’s. The Sierra Nevada's where the Sequoias are located are one of the largest sources of water for the state and also one of the state’s largest tourist attractions, especially known for its large redwood trees that cannot be found anywhere else but in the Western United States.

Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_National_and_State_Parks

Southwest Border Indians and Invaders

The Southwest boarder along California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas where taken over by European Anglo Americans began taking over these areas in the 1700’s. Many Native American’s lived in these areas years and years before them and were not happy about their land being taken over. These natives stayed in areas along the United States-Mexican border to stay away from these European invaders. Indian reservations were created in these areas so that the tribes could have places to live without being killed or dying from diseases that the Europeans brought. The Spanish came and took over these Native American areas just like they did in the Sierra Nevada’s. They too came to look for rich prosperous land and gold, but were not able to find either of these things. Over time the Spaniards along with the European Anglo American’s pushed the Native American’s aside and onto reservations. This was different then the Sequoia’s where the Spaniards killed the locals and spread their diseases to the locals which caused many tribes to go extinct.  

Picture from: http://blog.wfuv.org/?p=2404

The Empty Interior

     The Empty Interior of the United States has many similar attributes of the Sierra Nevada’s, where Sequoia is located. This area which runs from Canada all the way to Mexico is where the famous Rocky Mountain range is located. The Rocky Mountain National Park is also one of the United States beautiful tourist attractions. Many people come to see the talk jagged mountains and the wild animals that are often seen. Like the Sequoia’s where bears, dear, marmots, and many other species are located tourist love to see wildlife. These National Parks are both controlled by local governments so that they cannot be built on and destroyed by manufacturing plants and housing. These parks are protected so that these beautiful wonders can always be enjoyed, but above all these areas have some of the largest diversity of wildlife in the country.

     The Rocky Mountains have many drastic elevations from plunging slopes to sharp summits many in which are covered in Pleistocene ice and snow. The Sierra Nevada’s similar mountain areas had glaciers develop during cold and wet weather periods. Today it does not have nearly the amount of glaciers that it use to, but small amounts of them are still there. Much of the reason they are gone is due to global warming, which leaves them as the southernmost glaciers in North America. Over time these glaciers formed the parks valleys, waterfalls, peaks, and glacial canyons.

Information from: http://www.sequoia.national-park.com/info.htm

Great Plains and Prairies

The Great Plains of Central Northern California are known for their tall dry grasses filled with farms of mostly wheat, and the extremely high winds that sweep through the prairies. If it was not for the large amounts of irrigated water in this area then it would probably not be able to prosper as it has. Irrigation systems are artificial applications of land that provide water through canals or ditches usually to help produce agriculture. The lands that surround Sequoia National Park in California’s Central Valley has many irrigation canals that provides its central valley with water. About one-sixth of the United States irrigation takes place in this region which accounts for about 10% of the countries agriculture. The irrigation in this area comes from surface water diversions and groundwater that is pumped from wells. The Delta is interconnected with many canals, streambeds, and marsh lands to provide the Central Valley with the ability to produce such a large amount of agriculture. Sequoia had three major rivers that run through its park. There is the Kings, Kaweah, and Kern Rivers. These rivers provide the irrigation for many of its surrounding countries such as Fresno and Kern. If it was not for Sequoia’s ability to provide large amounts of water then the Central Valley might not be so prosperous.  

This picture although only labels Kings River shows many of California's water supplies. If you notice a majority come from the Eastern Central Valley. Meaning that it is coming from the Sierra Nevadas where Sequoia is located.

Information from: http://www.sequoia.national-park.com/info.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Valley_(California)

The Agricultural Core

In the mountains of Sequoia National Park there is hardly any to no agriculture. The areas up at the top are thick with trees and do not have the ability to produce different kinds of crops. They also do not have the ability to have farms because bringing large amounts of animals up to the area is too hard and too much money. The surrounding areas around the park however, have many different kinds of agriculture and farming that provide the uppers Sequoia's with their grocery store products. Sequoia is located in Central Valley on the East side of California. On the West side of the park is California's agricultural flatlands which provide many of the states fruits, vegetables, and meats. Kern county starts at the Southern tip of the park where the Kern River feeds out of Lake Isabella. The agriculture that it provides makes it California's third grossing county in the state of California. It provides on average, over 4 million dollars per year for the state with its products ranging from dairy, citrus, grapes, and carrots. Farther North of Kern county and still paralleling Sequoia's are the counties of San Joaquin and Kings which gross about 1 to 2 million annually for the state of California. They both provide a variety of poultries, dairy, and fruits and vegetables.

Information provided by: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/statistics/files/AgHighlightsBrochure10.pdf

The Subtropical Environment

     The Sequoia's do not have much in common with the South's subtropical weather. They have hot dry summers and freezing winters, unlike the south with its hot humid summers and mild winters. The South is well known for its natural disasters. Hurricanes have swept through much of the Southern Coastlines. Many of us remember Hurricane Katrina and what it did to New Orleans. Sequoia has common natural disasters of its own, however they are the opposite of water, hot flaming fire.

     There are three types of fires that occur most commonly in these upper mountain areas: natural causes, human causes, and controlled fires. Natural causes are ones that start by lightening striking or by temperatures getting so hot that it causes smoldering in dry areas which leads to a fire. Controlled fires are ones that firefighters start and stop in certain areas to prevent mass amounts of land catching fire and not being able to stop them. They also use controlled fired to help habitats create rebirth from the high nutrients in ash. The most dangerous is human fires. People will throw cigarettes, matches, etc onto the group which will then cause brush to catch quickly. Sometimes if the fires are planned they will start them in multiple areas which will then create a ring of fire. When this happens it is highly hazardous and could put many people in danger because it might leave people unprepared in the local areas. Firefighters can often predict natural caused fires before they happen due to the weather conditions, but human started fires can come at the most random of times.  The largest fire to burn in the park was in 2005 which spread over 14,087 acres of the park. 
Picture and Information from: www.nps.gov/seki/naturescience/fire.htm

The South: Population and People

The South was known for its very low population density due to its larger farming regions. Up until the 1900’s The South’s farm lands also known as plantation were ran by mostly African American slaves who had been brought over from Africa to do large amounts of hard physical labor. Similar to the south the Sequoia’s has very low population density. Sequoia although not known for farming is spread out over many acres with less than 100 people who live there permanently, mostly to maintain the parks trails and make sure nothing is being destroyed. In these high mountain areas there were never slaves because there were never much farming at all. Similar to the South’s removal of Native American’s in the 1830’s, the Spaniards worked their way into the Sierra Nevada’s killing off many Indian tribe members. Along with slaver in The South came much racism and segregation of blacks and other mixed races from the dominant white race. This was never a large issue in the Sequoia area, in fact as of today the park sees about 1 million visitors from around the world. Any sense of discrimination, if it does exist does not show. On my annual family trips to the mountain I have met many different people from China, Japan, Russia, Texas, New York, Europe, all of which different races and, all of which come together to view the beautiful Sequoia National Park.

Population: www.visitsequoia.com/sequoia-national-park.aspx

Appalachia

The Appalachian Mountains are known to have a poor economy due to the lack of access because of the region they are located. These mountains put a halt on the expansion into the Western parts of the United States because they were hard to bypass, and not easy to have large amounts of agriculture. Similar to the Appalachians the Sierra Nevada mountain region created a barrier for emigrants heading west or east. It forced emigrants to either expand north towards Oregon or south in Utah and Arizona. In the 1800’s many Forty-niners tried to make it through these rough mountains. Some of them made it while many of them also did not. The Sequoia’s have never grown to be even a percentage of population within California and are still preserved for their beautiful natural landmarks.

            It wasn’t until more recently within the mid 1900’s that the Appalachians began providing train access for travelers and visitors. Similar to this region Sequoia did not start having public transportation until this time too. Now they have daily shuttles that bring you up the mountain from Visalia, the town right before you head up to Sequoia that run hourly. They also have train rides and taxi services that provide easy access to and from the park coming from both entrances. Both of these mountain areas are still seen as great wonders of the world with many acres of untouched nature.  

Immigrants: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/places/states/california/ca_sierra.htm

Transportation: www.sequoiatours.com/amtrak.htm

Bypassed Mountains

If you were to look at California as a whole and how much of it is built along the Pacific Ocean, along with the amount of Megalopolis cities you would realize the Sequoia is easily bypassed. The park has two entrances: one coming from the Northwest through Kings Canyon and the other through Three Rivers from the Southwest. The park is lush with nature but greatly isolated from civilization. Although the soil in these mountain areas is deep and rich it is hard for any sort of farming to survive these cold climates, other than the large redwood and pine trees that live in the area. This is one reason the park was protected from having a mass number of people destroy it. The Act To save America’s Forests was created to protect many parks from deforestation which has helped to keep the Sequoia redwoods from going extinct. Mining is also very rare in the park because it is a national park which means that the state government protects it, however there are a few gold mining sites that can be found. Fishing is not a huge hobby for park goers considering the only fish to be got in these mountains is an array of trout, but many of them are river trout which do not get big enough to even eat. Due to the lack of resources to produce farming agriculture this beautiful mountain area has remained isolated and often bypassed by many civilians.

A picture of the beautiful Sequoia Twin Lakes.

Transportation: http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/directions.htm

Act To Save America’s Forests: http://saveamericasforests.org/resources/Destruction.htm

Gold: http://goldmaps.com/calif/california_gold_mines_4.htm

Fishing: http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/travel-ta-sequoia-kings-canyon-national-park-fishing-california-sidwcmdev_067202.html

Manufacturing and Industry

Sequoia is not known as any type of manufacturing core however the Sierra Nevada mountain range in which they are located in were formed in granitic rock. This granite was formed through a process of subduction where molten rock cooled under the surface and boiling water from the ocean came up through its surface and melted it. Sections of the park due to this process have metamorphic rocks such as quartz, schist, and marble. Marble rocks can be found in many of over 200 caves located within the park.

           
The park is able to maintain open because of the money it collects from visitors due to its travel and entertainment industry. One of the largest forms of entertainment within the park is the stunningly beautiful Crystal Caves. This cave which has been open to the public eye since 1941 not only brings in much of the parks revenue, but it does so by allowing visitors to see some of these beautiful metamorphic rocks that are so georgics. It has guided walk through tours which allows visitors to see marble formations, large coliseum like rooms filled with quartz, and many other interesting sites. For those a little more daring, they have spelunking tours which allow you to crawl through more areas of the cave to get a more daring experience.

Here is the link to Crystal Cave if you would like more information: http://www.visitsequoia.com/crystal-cave.aspx

Sierra Nevada formation information: http://www.nps.gov/seki/naturescience/geology_overview.htm

Megalopolis

A megalopolis is a series of many metropolitan close to each other. It describes the sort of over urbanization that happens in large city areas. Relating Sequoia National Park to megalopolis is very hard because it is far from it. With a year-around population of about 104 and only 211 housing units in a park that spans over 620 square miles this mountain area is not even close to a Megalopolis.

Sequoia is located in the beautiful state of California which, in its self has many large Megalopolis areas: Las Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, San Diego, etc. Many of these cities if not all of them are well known (unlike Sequoia) because they are so large. Most of them are known for their population densities, along with their large amounts of industry, manufacturing, and construction. These areas are controlled by large amounts of government workers: fireman, policeman, senators, governors, etc, and the living class ranges from extreme amounts of poverty to high class millionaires. There is hard to find a relation between Sequoia and these large Urban areas because the highest amount of population in this national park are the red wood trees that make up its natural wonders.


Statistics provided by: http://www.zipareacode.net/sequoia-national-park-ca.htm

Human Activity

Native American’s lived in these Southern Sierra mountains long before the tourists of today have set foot on them. For 1000’s of years Indians from the Yokuts preoccupied the foothills while the Western Mono tribes and Monache tribes roamed the upper mountains. These Indians controlled these lands until the late 1700’s when Europeans began to invade their territory. A Spanish missionary by the name of Font came along exploring the area recognizing it for its beautiful snowy mountains which is what gave the mountain range its name, “Sierra Nevada’s.” As the Spaniards continued to explore the lower areas around the mountains known as the San Joaquin Valley they spread diseases the Yokut tribes causing many of their deaths. These Europeans brought with them the idea of expansion with that came mining, logging, trapping, sheepherding, etc which these Indian hunters and gathers were not use to. As the early 1800’s hit these Spaniards were wanting more water and area so they worked their way up into the mountains. In the clash of interest between the natives and the invaders they created Sequoia National Park in order to keep the land under protection from industrialization. As for the Indians who were there first, their tribes exist of about 1000 peoples which is less than half of the original size. Today the park is opened for campers, backpackers, and nature lovers of all kinds to come and enjoy the beautiful redwoods.
Information source: http://www.nps.gov/seki/historyculture/index.htm

Friend and myself and Moro Rock, one of the top sites to see within the park. It is considered the best 360 view in the park at which you can see teh Great Western Divide on one side and on the other Visalia the last city at the very base of the mountain as well as the entire road that brings you into the park. I put these pictures because Moro Rock was where the Mono Indians would come to look out for predators and enemies at the bottom of the hill. It gave them the ability to know what was going on before hand.

Physical Environment

The park is located in the physiographic region of known as Pacific Mountains and Valleys which ranges from Alaska down through Canada, Washington, and Oregon to the Southern point of California. The Sierra Nevada mountain range that the park is located on top of a fault block. Due to this much of the park had different sized valleys and mountains. At the lower elevation of the park are the foothills where temperatures range from about 35F-58F depending on the time of year. The weather would be considered subtropical with moist winders and dry summers. These lower areas receive about 26 inches a year. It is composed of chaparral and oak woodlands. At the higher elevations where the forest gets more dense the temperatures on average range from 24F-44F. The precipitation in these higher areas is much larger, with about 40-45 inches of rain yearly. During the winter season much of the upper area is covered in snow, but in the summer it is usually perfect temperature and the ideal time to come camping with family and friends, with warmer days and cooler nights.

My friends and I sitting by our camp fire enjoying a perfect cool summer night.

Information gathered from personal knowledge and http://www.nps.gov/seki/

Regions and Themes

Sequoia National Park is located in the mountain ranges located in the Central Eastern part of California. This beautiful National Park is also known as "The Land of Giants" because of its beautiful red wood trees that bring thousands of visitors per year to see its diverse environment. It is in the Southern portion of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Sitting at 1300 feet at base and 15000 feet at summit it gets plenty of rain and snow during the winter and lots of sunshine in the summer. The wildlife is diverse and so are the visitors who come to see this awing park!

Picture courtesy of: http://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm