The Sierra Forest Reserve was a federal

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US v ...

in the Sierra Nevada, in eastern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It was established on February 14, 1893, by President

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States, serving from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia—a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, and a ...

with authorization from section 24 of the

Forest Reserve Act of 1891 The General Revision Act (sometimes Land Revision Act) of 1891, also known as the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, was a federal law signed in 1891 by President Benjamin Harrison. The Act reversed previous policy initiatives, such as the Timber Cultu ...

. It was the largest reserve with over , and was the second reserve established in California. The first was the San Gabriel Timberland Reserve.

Initiation

The Sierra Reserve beginnings, like the San Gabriel Reserve, were by petitions sent to the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

from

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lake ...

officials wanting to stop the damage in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

by timber and livestock commercial interests. The

United States General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government responsible for Public domain (land), public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 ...

which was responsible for management of public lands, sent Benjamin Allen to investigate and report back, which he did, recommending a set aside of land called Tulare Reserve. He originally had five million acres (20,000 km²) to six million acres (24,000 km²) for this reserve in his report.

Support

The majority of local citizens were supportive, any protests heard were coming from the sheepmen. Conservationist and later

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

founder

Abbot Kinney Abbot Kinney (November 16, 1850 in New Brunswick, New Jersey – November 4, 1920 in Santa Monica, California) was an American Real estate development, developer, conservation movement, conservationist, water supply expert and tree expert. Kinne ...

and ''Century'' magazine editor

Robert Underwood Johnson Robert Underwood Johnson (January 12, 1853 – October 14, 1937) was an American writer, poet, and diplomat. Biography Robert Underwood Johnson was born on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. on January 12, 1853 and spent his childhood in Cente ...

gave their support of the proposed set aside.

Establishment

Benjamin Allen, in his final report, reduced the size and changed the name to Sierra Forest Reserve. The new reserve bordered most of

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

with its western boundary almost surrounding General Grant and Sequoia national parks.Godfrey p. 40 Its lands are now primarily part of the

Sierra National Forest Sierra National Forest is a U.S. national forest located on the western slope of the central Sierra Nevada in California, bounded on the northwest by Yosemite National Park and on the south by Kings Canyon National Park. The forest is known for ...

Footnotes

References

Godfrey, Anthony ''The Ever-Changing View-A History of the National Forests in California'' USDA Forest Service Publishers, 2005 {{ISBN, 1-59351-428-X

Initiation

Support

Establishment

Footnotes

References

See also