Southern Sierra

The Southern Sierra stretches from Madera County in the north, down into Kern County in the south. The northern portion of this region is comprised mainly of Sierra National Forest. Sierra National Forest stretches from the rolling oak foothills in the west, all the way up to nearly 14,000-foot peaks. The forest is home to a large portion of the San Joaquin River, California’s second-largest river, and five national wilderness areas including Ansel Adams, Donkey Lakes, John Muir, Kaiser, and Monarch.

To the south of Sierra National Forest lies Kings Canyon National Park the beautiful sister to neighboring Sequoia National Park. John Muir called Kings Canyon “a rival to Yosemite”, which makes sense when one enters the park and witnesses its deep canyons and distinctive granite and metamorphic rock features. Kings Canyon is also home to the world’s largest remaining grove of giant sequoia trees, Redwood Canyon.

Bordered by King’s Canyon to the north and west and Mt. Whitney to the east lies Sequoia National Park. The park was established in 1890 to protect its groves of giant sequoia trees. Sequoia National Park is home to the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree by volume in the world. Most of the remaining groves of sequoias that lie outside of the park boundaries are protected by Giant Sequoia National Monument.

Although giant sequoias have historically been some of the most fire-resilient trees in the world, a combination of climate change, drought, logging, and fire suppression policies have altered the forests. In recent years, several large fires have threatened many of the groves, with hundreds of giant sequoias being killed.

One can’t discuss Southern Sierra waters without mentioning the San Joaquin River. The river, which is the second-longest after the Sacramento, drains a huge portion of the Southern Sierra before flowing north through the Central Valley and draining into the San Francisco Bay. In 2014, an environmental group called American Rivers gave the San Joaquin the ominous title of “America’s most endangered river. Once a thriving habitat for migratory fish and wetland ecosystems, dams and water diversions have devastated fish populations and drastically reduced the flow of the river.

Friant Dam, constructed in the 1930’s, is largely to blame for the environmental disaster that has unfolded in the San Joaquin River. The dam lies at the base of the Sierra just North of Fresno and diverts the majority of the river’s water into the Friant-Kern Canal, which feeds farms and households across the Central Valley. The dam cut off Chinook salmon from their vital alpine spawning habitats and decimated wetlands downstream. 

In 2006, a settlement was reached that requires the Bureau of Reclamation to restore a habitat for Chinook salmon downstream of Friant Dam. The restoration is ongoing and has seen resistance from agricultural interests, but fish have already begun returning to the river in larger numbers than in previous years.

The 165-mile long Kern River is the other major waterway of the Southern Sierra, draining a large area northeast of Bakersfield. The Kern is the southernmost major river in the mountain range. Similar to the San Joaquin, the Kern River is almost entirely diverted for agricultural use, resulting in the lower 25 miles of the river nearly drying up each year. The north and south forks of the river that flow through the Sierra were designated Wild and Scenic in 1987. These waterways are world-famous for their rafting, fishing, and gorgeous scenery.