The World's Biggest Trees: Giant Sequoia National Monument in Pictures

It may be hard to believe, after a century of protection of groves in places like Yosemite and Sequoia national parks, but before April 15, 2000 more than half the groves of giant sequoias remained vulnerable to logging. Sequoiadendron giganteum is one of the trees most emblematic of California, with many individuals larger than any other species of tree on Earth, capable of reaching more than 250 feet in heights and living for more than 3,000 years. There aren't many giant sequoias in the wild, and wild groves are found only in California.