General Grant Grove, a section of the greater Kings Canyon National Park, was established by the U.S. Congress in 1890 and is located in Fresno County, California.

[2] General Grant Grove consists of 154 acres (0.62 km2) and is geographically isolated from the rest of Kings Canyon National Park.

The original inhabitants of what is today General Grant Grove and Kings Canyon National Park were natives of the Shoshonean language group.

In 1846, Hale Tharp, a disenchanted miner who hoped to establish a cattle ranch in the region, became the first white settler to enter the Giant Forest that would later constitute Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Tharp's settlement in the Giant Forest, however, spurred further human interest in the region, and the native population began to contract contagious diseases from incoming white settlers.

[6] Advocacy for protection of the forest gained traction in the 1870s when agricultural interests in the Central Valley sought to end the harmful practices of sheep herders and lumber companies.

[7] On October 1, 1890, in response to pressure from agricultural interests from citizens in towns such as Visalia and conservationists such as John Muir, who wrote a number of articles in journals describing the lands' beauty, Congress passed a bill that established Yosemite, Sequoia, and General Grant national parks.

Utilizing the road built by the Kaweah Colony, early tourists camped in the park using tents and temporary shelters.

Officials from Los Angeles County hoped to use the park's major rivers, the Kings, Kern, and Kaweah, to harness hydroelectric power for the city, but locals remained wary of the environmental impact of damming.

[12] In 1940, General Grant Grove became a section of the newly created Kings Canyon National Park, thanks to the combined efforts of Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, the Sierra Club, and Congress.

Fusing Kings Canyon with General Grant Grove allowed the National Park Service to strengthen the protection and management of the sequoias in both.

[14] After World War II, the National Park Service expanded its function to include a new endeavor: scientific research.

Newly hired scientists conducted studies measuring the human impacts on the Giant Forest, overgrazing by deer, and the danger present to threatened species.

The National Park Service drafted an Environmental Impact Statement detailing their plans to expand accommodations in Grant Grove.

While current management practices in General Grant Grove include prescribed burns, fire suppression was actively followed in the park's early years.

In fact, Dr. Leopold used the sequoia groves in Kings Canyon as evidence of the need for proscribed burning and improved management practices.

By 1972, Kings Canyon had implemented a prescribed burn plan that spanned the entire park, including General Grant Grove.

[15] Controlled burns today remain a vital part of the National Park Service's efforts to manage Kings Canyon and General Grant Grove.

The higher snow line will likely lessen water storage, change species' habitats, and make fires more severe.

Current restoration plans aim to slow the effects of climate change through reducing air pollution within the parks and the greater San Joaquin Valley.