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THE FORESTER. 



June, 



The New Lake Tahoe Forest Reserve, California. 



President McKinley issued a procla- 

 mation on April 1 3, establishing the Lake 

 Tahoe Forest Reserve, in California, 

 upon the recommendation of the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, after a very thorough 

 examination of the subject had been made 

 by that Department, during a period of 

 two years. The area of the reserve is 

 estimated at 136,335 acres. 



On November 16, 1896, the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior referred to the Gen- 

 eral Land Office the petition of residents 

 of Carson City, Nev , to have certain 

 lands in El Dorado County, California, 

 in the immediate vicinity of Lake Tahoe, 

 reserved for further disposal and set apart 

 as a public park. Among the signers to 

 this and other similar petitions were the 

 Governor of Nevada, the Chief Justice 

 of the Nevada Supreme Court, the State 

 Treasurer, the Attorney General and 

 other State officers, the University of 

 California (including the Lick Observa- 

 tory), the Leland Stanford, Junior, Uni- 

 versity, the Sierra Club, United States 

 Senators Stephen M. White and George 

 C. Perkins, and many other citizens of 

 California. 



As the result of a special examination 

 of these lands and their suitability for a 

 forest reserve, the agent of the Depart- 

 ment made a favorable report in Decem- 

 ber, 1897, which is, in part, as follows : 



"The land embraced within the bound- 

 aries of this proposed reservation is all 

 rough and mountainous with but little, 

 if any, agricultural land. There are no 

 public traveled roads and but few trails 

 in this territory. 



' ' The elevation at Lake Tahoe is 6, 200 

 feet above sea level, and all of the land 

 in the proposed reservation is at a still 

 higher elevation, and consequently is 

 free from snow only in the lower portion 

 for about four months in the year. In- 

 cluded in the territory are mountains 

 which are never free from snow. 



"The scenic features of the proposed 

 territory are of the finest possible de- 

 scription and will attract tourists from 



all parts of the world. The highest 

 mountains between Lassen's Butte, on 

 the north, and the Yosemite Reservation 

 on the south, a distance of several hun- 

 dred miles, are included within this pro- 

 posed reservation, as will appear from a 

 map of the Sierra Valley. 



"Fine forests of Pine and Fir are 

 scattered throughout the proposed reser- 

 vation, and constitute one of the most 

 interesting features of the landscape. 

 The general elevation is too great for 

 dense forests of Pine, or Pine of as large 

 growth as may be found in the Sierras at 

 a lower plane, but the forests are inter- 

 esting and exceedingly valuable in pre- 

 venting the rapid melting of the snows. 



"What people there are in this dis- 

 trict are only Summer inhabitants, that 

 is to say, they drive their flocks to this 

 region the latter part of June, pasture 

 them in the meadows and on the moun- 

 tain sides, and then return in October to 

 the valleys below. I did not find any 

 one except those connected with the fine 

 hotels about Lake Tahoe, who remain 

 in this region during the Winter. Snow 

 not unusually falls in this region to an 

 aggregate depth of twenty feet. The land 

 is of no possible value except for grazing 

 purposes in the narrow valleys during 

 three or four months in the year 



"Scattered through this region are 

 many lakes. Some of them have been 

 stocked with fish and have become a 

 place of considerable resort for mountain 

 tourists. If this plan of making a forest 

 reservation is carried out, it will be the 

 most convenient of access of any reser- 

 vation in California, and will be much 

 more visited than any other, and a great 

 National Park established, easily acces- 

 sible to all the people, and one which 

 will be visited much more than any 

 other. 



" The region is so attractive that al- 

 ready many hotels and watering places 

 have been established and seem to re- 

 ceive a large patronage. Benefit will 

 result to all the people of the country by 



