Pres. Clinton is considering creating a new national monument in California that would protect more than 30 giant sequoia groves across 300,000 to 400,000 acres of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range. Yesterday Clinton asked Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman to review the status of the groves, which lie within the Sequoia National Forest, and recommend whether a national monument is in order. The 2,000- to 3,000-year-old sequoias exist only in California in about 70 groves; some 25 of the groves are already protected inside Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon national parks. The president can designate national monuments without congressional approval, and Clinton recently angered conservative Republicans by creating four new ones in Arizona, Utah, and California.
