The lawsuit filed by conservation groups said the forest management plan was a scientifically suspect strategy meant to satisfy timber interests under the guise of wildfire prevention. Pat Gallagher with the Sierra Club hailed the ruling. 

"We’re elated. We think it’s a wonderful result. It would be ideal to have the park service manage this monument because it is a national treasure I mean we’re talking about the Giant Sequoia tree and whoever manages it should be managing it as a gift to future generations not as a tree farm."   

US District Court Judge Charles Breyer sided with the Sierra Club and other environmental groups that sued the U-S Forest Service over its plan to manage the Sequoia Monument, home to two-thirds of the world's largest trees.

The Forest Service says the plan to allow "thinning" of some trees was aimed at meeting fire prevention goals.