232 PRACTICAL FORESTRY 
The Yosemite National Park and other parks 
and reservations in California cover an area of al- 
most 10 per cent of the State. These reservations 
are of great importance because of their magnificent 
scenery, and because of the value of the water sup- 
ply in connection with extensive systems of irri- 
gation. Stretching in an almost continuous line along 
the Sierra Nevada Range to the Mojave Desert is an 
extensive reservation which protects the headwaters 
of the streams which flow into the San Joaquin Val- 
ley, the granary of California. The most northern 
reservation in California is Lake Tahoe. It is rough 
and mountainous, with practically no roads and few 
trails. It is unfit for agriculture, and includes moun- 
tains which are never free from snow. Extending 
to the southward for a long distance, including some 
of the finest scenery of the world, is a vast tract of 
reserved land, including the Stanislaus Reservation, 
the Yosemite National Park, the Sierra Reservation, 
the General Grant National Park, and Sequoia Na- 
tional Park. 
The Yosemite National Park includes the famous 
Yosemite Valley. <A little to the southward, in the 
Sierra Reservation, is the Mariposa Park of Big 
Trees. The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Park 
are owned and managed by the State of California. 
They are under the control of the Governor and a 
