Blake Hall
Ulysses S. Grant was a decorated Union Army general and the 18th President of the United States of America. He was also a scary good writer.
Now General Grant, however, is a gigantic tree named after him in Kings Canyon National Park in California. Not only is it the second-largest tree in the entire world (second to only, oddly enough, General Sherman, a tree in Tulare County) but it’s about 1,650 years old, 267 feet tall and has worn the late military legend’s name since 1867.**
Recently, a young tike was visiting national forest with his parents and, according to him, pilfered a pinecone beneath the massive canopy of General Grant, and immediately felt awful about it. So, when he returned home, he penned this adorable letter, sent it to the park rangers and complemented it with the stolen geometrically-pleasing seed thingy itself (the cone).
Here’s the note below, via Facebook:
Good kid, huh?
Funny thing, though. Not only was it a kind gesture in and of itself, but according to those who get paid as caretakers for the ancient park, what the child did was what Mother Nature would’ve ordered.
This from BuzzFeed:
It is technically against park rules to take pinecones out of the park because they are part of its ecosystem. “It’s a tough environment here,” staff wrote. “The animals need their nibbles and the area needs the seeds and vegetation. Also, cones and other plants deteriorate and help to create soil in this rocky environment.”
“We are so glad this young person thought about the park’s preservation messages,” the staff wrote. “Thanks for leaving Sequoia and Kings Canyon Parks as you found them.”
Want to book a trip to see General Grant or General Sherman? Get a great military discount on flights and hotel rooms through this link here (up to 50% off in some cases!).
** – Just think, when this sequoia was first planted, either by a human or an animal or some other force of nature, the Roman Empire was still an empire (it didn’t fall until 395).