Ishi Giant facts for kids
The Ishi Giant is a huge giant sequoia tree. You can find it in California, in the United States. This amazing tree lives in Kennedy Grove. Kennedy Grove is one of eight special groups of giant sequoia trees. These groves are all close together in the Sequoia National Forest. This forest is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California. Before 2015, the Ishi Giant was the 14th largest giant sequoia in the world. But it got smaller after a big wildfire called the Rough Fire.
Discovering the Ishi Giant
A nature expert named Dwight M. Willard found the Ishi Giant in 1993. Later that year, another expert, Wendell D. Flint, found a human skull near the tree. He thought they should name the tree "Calavera," which means skull.
However, Dwight Willard chose a different name. He named the tree after Ishi. Ishi was a Yahi Yana tribesman. Many believe he was the last Native American in the United States to have lived most of his life outside modern American culture.
How Big Was It?
Before the year 2015, the Ishi Giant was very impressive. It stood about 255 ft (78 m) tall. That's like a 25-story building! Its trunk had a volume of about 38,156 cu ft (1,080.5 m3). This huge size made it the fourteenth largest giant sequoia tree on Earth.
The tree's trunk had a big, deep burn mark on its south side. It also had two large "buttresses" on each side. These are like natural supports for the tree. Most of the tree's leaves and branches were near the very top.
Changes After the Rough Fire
In 2015, a large wildfire called the Rough Fire happened. The Ishi Giant was badly affected by this fire. It lost a lot of its trunk volume. It also lost over 27 ft (8.2 m) in height. More than half of its crown, which is the top part with branches and leaves, was also lost.
Because of these big changes, experts need to measure the tree again. A new estimate will help us know its current size and how much it has changed.
