The National Park Service wants to replant sequoia groves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, where wildfires in 2020 and 2021 inflicted lasting damage on the iconic sequoia forests. Four groups filed suit against the National Park Service on Nov. 17, saying the agency’s effort violates the law as it includes planting in designated wilderness areas, where human involvement in the ecosystem is explicitly prohibited. The groups now jointly accuse the National Park Service of illegally encroaching on federally protected land in both of the projects. “The Park Service has to abide by the 1964 Wilderness Act,” said Kevin Proescholdt, conservation director at Wilderness Watch. But several agencies, including the National Park Service and the National Forest Service, have operated on a “Smokey the Bear mentality,” treating natural fires as needing to be suppressed and prevented, without understanding their “historic ecological roles,” Proescholdt said.

Source: CNN November 28, 2023 09:14 UTC