Last Stand of the Giants is a feature length documentary about the race to preserve America’s most iconic trees: The Giant Sequoia. It follows scientists, rangers, fire fighters, indigenous historians, and environmentalists in the field and in the court of public opinion as they grapple with past mistakes and uncertain public funding to protect these living monuments.
Trailer 1:
The Giant Sequoia are synonymous with American environmentalism. To this day they appear on the patch all National Park rangers wear on their shoulders. No natural feature has been the subject of greater American efforts to preserve and protect than these epic trees.
And now, nearly one fifth of all mature giant sequoias are dead.
They are dying to fire of an intensity never before seen in nature, in spite of (and sometimes because of) historical efforts to protect them.
In response to this crisis, the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition (GSLC) was formed: a dream team of scientists, foresters, fire fighters, park rangers, and Indigenous historians with one goal: save the giant sequoia now and into the future.
Only now there’s a problem: the funding required will largely come through the federal government, a government that next year will look very different.
This one year may decide the fate of a species that can live for thousands.
In 2025 the challenge for the GSLC is threefold:
- Secure funding in perpetuity to maintain these groves.
- Safeguard the surviving groves before the next giant fire.
- Work to educate the public on the importance of a healthy fire regime in a polluted media environment.
Our team will go into the field with 6 key figures in the coalition to document their efforts during this critical year:
Kevin Conway – Fire Captain He is involved in both controlled burns that prepare Sequoia groves for fire and, if the worst happens, we will follow his team into the inferno as they fight to save the groves.
Jessie Valdez – Cultural Burn officer – A member of the North Fork Mono tribe, and a background in Archaeology, Jesse advocates restoring forests to the healthy fire ecology that existed when they were managed by the indigenous peoples of California.
Breezy Jackson – Scientist She climbs trees for science. Among a handful of qualified researchers at the Ancient Forest Society to receive permission to climb the Giant Sequoia, her relationship to these giants couldn’t be more personal.
Dr. Christy Brigham leads the Resources Management and Science Division at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks; and no one is better able to passionately advocate for these trees.
Linnea Hardlund was a firefighter who wanted to better understand fire. Now she is the leading expert on the ecological impacts of wildfire in giant sequoia groves.
Danielle Gerhart is Cal Park’s Central Valley District superintendent. No one better understands the unique challenges of making nature accessible to all Americans while also protecting nature from over use by the same people.
There is no story closer to the heart of Americans’ complicated relationship with nature. We will attempt to answer the fundamental question of environmentalism:
Can humans, who live mere decades, understand trees that live for centuries and use that understanding to act before it is too late?