SUNDAY AT THE CAMP OF THE UNEMPLOYED, SAN DIEGO, CAL., MUNICIPAL 



FOREST. 



SAN DIEGO'S MUNICIPAL FOREST 



BY MAX WATSON, Public Forester 



QOW that the United States is 

 realizing that period when it 

 becomes expedient to look for- 

 ward to its future timber supply 

 and the fact becomes apparent that 

 within less than a decade it will be 

 necessary to create forests to fill the 

 demand which cannot be supplied by 

 our fast diminishing forests, it is 

 rather interesting to note the man- 

 ner in which this future want will be 

 provided. Of all the natural resources 

 which are primarily a public asset, there 

 is none on which the public well being 

 is more dependent than the forests. 

 Therefore it follows that our future 

 forests should be established by the 

 community as a whole rather than by 

 its individual citizens for the benefit of 

 the individual and not the community. 

 Several of the cities of Europe have 

 furnished us with creditable examples 

 of what a community may accomplish 

 through the establishment and mainte- 

 nance of a Muncipal Forest, but until 



recently such an undertaking had not 

 been atempted by any city of the United 

 States. That the City of San Diego, 

 situated in the most southwesternly cor- 

 ner of the United States, should be the 

 first to systematically establish a Mu- 

 nicipal Forest, might seem rather ex- 

 traordinary at first glance to those 

 familiar with Southern California, and 

 the natural flora of that region. The 

 country is bare of any natural forests 

 except upon the highest mountains, and 

 the limited rainfall would seem to be 

 adverse to an undertaking of this kind. 

 Nevertheless the fact that this city is 

 now engaged in such a work indicates 

 that there must be conditions which 

 make such an undertaking within the 

 realms of practicability. 



The first and most important reason 

 is the fact that San Diego stands apart 

 from other cities in that she is the 

 possessor of nearly seven thousand 

 acres of land within her limits. This 

 land came into the possession of the 



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