beetle

The iconic giant sequoia, which stands in California’s Sequoia National Park, is the largest living tree on the planet and has withstood two millennia of storms, drought, and wildfires. But it has never had a proper check-up.

On May 21, researchers with the Ancient Forest Society used climbing ropes to ascend to General Sherman’s upper crown in the first-ever climb of the 275-foot-tall giant sequoia. Their mission: to visually inspect the ancient tree for signs of infestation by sequoia bark beetles—an emerging threat that has already killed as many as 40 mature giant sequoias since 2015.