How Sequoia became the most polluted national park in America

Good morning. It’s Monday, March 25. I’m Christian Orozco, an editor on the newsletters team. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

• Four of the 10 most polluted parks are in California.
• Shohei Ohtani promised to address reporters later today about the gambling scandal.
• One of L.A.’s best pizza chefs has set out to perfect focaccia.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

California’s unflattering achievement

You are tired of the city and the traffic. You’re looking to break away from the expanding industrial facilities encroaching on open spaces. So you drive up to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Congratulations, you’ve made it to the most polluted parks in America.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon topped two lists in the National Parks Conservation Assn.’s report on polluted parks, “National Parks With Unhealthy Air” and “Worst National Parks for Hazy Skies,” my colleague Lila Seidman reported. Joshua Tree, Mojave, Yosemite and Death Valley were also ranked in the top 10 on the unhealthy-air list.

The report called Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree and Mojave “the most ozone-polluted national parks in the United States,” with the ozone layers being “significant concern for human health.”

Wildfire smoke has left California parks worse off than parks in other states

Although California parks join the rest of the nation in the fight against threats related to climate change, the Golden State is also disproportionately affected by wildfires, Seidman reported.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks took the No. 1 position partly because of the 2020 Castle and the 2021 KNP Complex wildfires. (They also took the No. 1 position the last time the report was published, in 2019.)

According to the report, the fires destroyed “tens of thousands of acres and numerous sequoia groves within the parks.” The destruction of sequoias “not only threatens the regeneration of the iconic trees but also disrupts ecosystems and harms wildlife within these parks.” It added that “19% of the world’s mature giant sequoias may have been lost due to wildfires.” California’s Joshua trees have suffered a similar fate in the face of the state’s wildfires.

Pollution from population and industrial centers also affects our parks

Seidman wrote that “car-dependent population centers such as Los Angeles; agricultural and industrial operations in the San Joaquin Valley; trucking and warehouse facilities in the Inland Empire; and the ever-buzzing ports complex in Los Angeles and Long Beach” are what have made California parks dirtier.

Half of the 10 parks with the unhealthiest air are in California. Here they are:

1. Sequoia & Kings Canyon (Calif.)
2. Joshua Tree (Calif.)
3. Mojave (Calif.)
4. Yosemite (Calif.)
5. Carlsbad Caverns (N.M.)
6. Death Valley (Calif.)
7. Indiana Dunes (Ind.)
8. Guadalupe Mountains (Texas)
9. Rocky Mountain (Colo.)
10. White Sands (N.M.)

It’s not all bad news

Despite the grim circumstances, the report noted some hopeful improvements from 2019:

• Parks with significant concern levels in at least one of the air quality categories fell from 96% to 70%.
• Significant concern levels for unhealthy air fell by 52%.
• Hazy skies decreased by 94%. (Seidman notes the report attributes this “to the implementation of several clean air regulations.”)

Today’s top stories

(Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)

The Shohei Ohtani interpreter gambling scandal

• Shohei Ohtani promised to address reporters later today for the first time since his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired amid gambling and theft allegations.
• What to know about the gambling scandal.
• Ohtani needs to grow up, Dylan Hernandez writes.

The presidential election

• Nicole Shanahan rose from poverty to become a tech lawyer and marry one of the world’s richest men. Is Robert Kennedy Jr. about to make her his running mate?
• Trump wants to round up more than 1 million undocumented migrants from California. Here’s how he might do it.

Dodgers and Angels square off to open the MLB season

• Greatest team or biggest flop? The only thing that could prevent the Dodgers from winning the 2024 world series is themselves, columnist Bill Plaschke writes.
• The Dodgers probably are not going to win the World Series this year. That is just the way Major League Baseball likes it.
• The Angels know it’ll be tough to overcome Shohei Ohtani’s absence, but Mike Trout is staying optimistic about the team’s playoff chances.

The box office isn’t quite back

• “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” collected a cool $45.2 million at the weekend box office.
• The Oscars mark last hurrah for ‘Barbenheimer’ as 2024 box office faces uncertain future.

Call them super progressives

• L.A.’s political left looks to expand its power at City Hall.
• Nithya Raman won reelection.
• Tenant rights lawyer Ysabel Jurado made it to the runoff and will face Councilmember Kevin de León in November.

‘Quiet on the Set’ has forced many to revise childhood memories

• Josh Peck spoke out after a new documentary detailed Drake Bell’s abuse by a TV coach.
• The host of “Blue’s Clues” checks in after “Quiet on Set,” making grown fans emotional.

The Klamath River is making a comeback

• Its dams are being removed. Go inside the effort to restore a scarred watershed.
• The largest dam removal in history has stirred hopes of restoring California tribes’ way of life.

More big stories

• A severe geomagnetic storm is affecting Earth and could produce powerful northern lights displays across portions of the United States on Sunday and Monday, NASA said.
• Ready to hit the road for spring break? Gas prices in L.A. County are now topping $5 a gallon.
• Visionary theater director Bill Bushnell has died at 86. He guided the Los Angeles Theatre Center, a beacon for diversity and multicultural storytelling, into existence in the 1980s.
• The Supreme Court’s antiabortion conservatives will decide whether to restrict abortion pills, including in California and other states where abortion is legal.

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Commentary and opinions

• Steve Lopez: Donald Trump said that people from Beverly Hills “don’t smell so good.” I didn’t find foul odors, but I did find folks worried about a second term for him.
• Robin Abcarian: Who has the moral authority to speak about Israel’s excesses? Certainly not Donald Trump.
• Bill Plaschke: JuJu Watkins is college basketball’s coolest player, with skills that could make her the sport’s next Caitlin Clark and raise USC to championship heights.
• Editorial Board: L.A.’s budget shortfall means residents could pay more for less service.

Today’s great reads

The Miracle Hot Springs soaking tubs before they were closed due to two recent deaths.

(Forest Service / U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Two dead bodies, drugs and ‘weird characters.’ Are these illicit hot tubs a safety threat? Sequoia National Forest has waged a long-running battle against illegal hot tubs, but lovers of Miracle Hot Springs say authorities need to chill out.

Other great reads

• NASA’s attempt to bring home part of Mars is unprecedented. The mission’s problems are not.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your downtime

Chef Daniele Uditi holds a piece of focaccia nel ruoto at the 40th annual International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. The Pizzana chef hopes to open a focacceria in Los Angeles.

(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• 🍞 One of L.A.’s best pizza chefs has set out to perfect focaccia.
• 🚌 Ride the bus almost everywhere and see a new vision of L.A.
• 🎤 Kim Gordon never fully said “Bye Bye” to L.A. Here’s why she’s back, with a TikTok hit to boot, and performing here this week.

Staying in

• 📺 A new Fox Nation documentary looks back at how the televised murder trials for the Menendez brothers forever changed the public’s perception of the legal system.
• ☮️ Trying to reduce stress? Spend 20 seconds a day doing this easy practice.
• 🧑‍🍳 Here are five recipes for celebrating the start of spring.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

And finally ... a powerful photo

Show us your favorite place in California! We’re running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.

(Marcus Yam/Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s powerful photo is from staff photographer Marcus Yam. On a bright and nearly cloudless day in the West Bank village of Burin, hundreds gathered to bury a 10-year-old boy named Amro, who had been shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. Yam captured one boy’s grief.

That’s it for today from the Essential California team

Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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