Stop the Attack on Climate-Saving Giant Sequoia Forests

Giant sequoias are among the oldest living beings on Earth—some have stood for over 3,000 years. They’ve survived storms, droughts, and centuries of wildfire. But they cannot survive political decisions that prioritize logging and development over science and conservation. That’s why Congress must reject the misleadingly named Save Our Sequoias Act (H.R. 2709).

This bill would open the door to commercial logging, road-building, and heavy-machinery “treatments” inside some of our most irreplaceable protected forests. It rewrites core parts of the Wilderness Act— the very law meant to shield these landscapes from precisely this kind of intrusion.

At a moment when climate change is accelerating faster than ever, weakening protections for carbon-rich forests is the last thing we should be doing.

Forests are one of the most powerful climate solutions we have. The ancient sequoias and surrounding ecosystems store massive amounts of carbon in their trunks, branches, soils, and roots. Their sheer size makes them among the most effective natural tools we have to slow global warming. When we fragment these forests or remove mature trees, we don’t just harm biodiversity—we release stored carbon and eliminate the living systems that pull CO₂ out of the atmosphere.

Supporters of H.R. 2709 claim it’s about “saving” sequoias from wildfire. But sequoias have evolved because of fire. They regenerate naturally when low-intensity fire sweeps through. What they do not recover from are bulldozers, road cuts, and the permanent loss of old-growth habitat.

We need climate-smart policies that strengthen forest protection — not carve loopholes into laws that have protected America’s wild places for decades. The true path to safeguarding sequoias is reducing climate pollution, protecting intact forests, and allowing natural ecological processes to continue.

Please sign this petition to tell Congress: stand with science, with climate action, and with the generations who will inherit this planet. Reject the Save Our Sequoias Act. Protect our forests — our climate depends on it.