Bennett Juniper, Ancient juniper tree in Sierra Nevada, California, US.

Bennett Juniper is a grand juniper (Juniperus grandis) with a thick, deeply furrowed reddish-brown trunk and gnarled limbs spreading into a broad, uneven canopy. It stands 78 feet tall with a crown spread of 56 feet and a trunk diameter of 12.7 feet at breast height.

Basque sheepherders first described a huge juniper to rancher Ed Burgson in the 1920s, and naturalist Clarence Bennett later visited and championed the tree. The Forest Service named it after Bennett by the 1950s. A road built that decade brought visitors, prompting the Bennett Juniper Association to place a monument in 1963. Landowner Joseph W. Martin Sr. donated a 3-acre preserve to The Nature Conservancy in 1978; Save the Redwoods League took it over in 1987, and a caretaker has lived nearby since 1988. Firefighters saved the tree from the Donnell Fire in 2018.

The tree is named for naturalist Clarence K. Bennett, who championed its study and protection after Basque sheepherders reported a huge juniper to rancher Ed Burgson in the 1920s. The Forest Service had named it after Bennett by the 1950s, and the Bennett Juniper Association placed a monument at the tree in 1963.

A visitor path with educational signs leads around the tree and explains its role in the local ecosystem. Sturdy shoes are recommended as the ground is uneven and the altitude takes time to adjust to.

The Bennett Juniper is a grand juniper (Juniperus grandis), a species raised from the southern western juniper population after DNA studies by Adams in 2006. Its trunk is partly hollow: coring in 1989 hit rotten wood about 2 feet in, so a complete core and a definitive age can never be obtained.