A Timeline of Tulare County Treasures
A Timeline of Tulare County Treasures
Follow the history of conservation in Tulare County by exploring the timeline below.
(Note: The entries in italics outline significant historic events that provide context for the story of conservation in Tulare County.)
1902 The city of Porterville is incorporated in Tulare County.
1902 The United States Reclamation Service (later renamed the Bureau of Reclamation) is established.
1905 The United States Forest Service is established under the U.S. Department of Agriculture to manage federal forests and grasslands in the interest of wildlife habitat, watershed protection, recreation, and timber production.
1906 The city of Dinuba is incorporated in Tulare County.
1906 The Antiquities Act authorizes the President to set aside federal lands as national monuments or historic sites without Congressional action.
1907 Quinn Ranger Station is built on the Hockett Plateau in Sequoia National Park when the park was still administered by the U.S. Cavalry.
1908 Sequoia National Forest is established on July 1 from the southern portion of the Sierra Forest Reserve.
1909 Mooney Grove Park is established when Tulare County purchases 100 acres of Valley Oak woodland from Michael Mooney, who requires that the oak forest must be preserved in perpetuity and maintained as a public park.
1909 Sequoia National Forest is expanded by Presidential Proclamation by Theodore Roosevelt (March 2, 1909).
1909 The Smithsonian Institution Shelter on Mount Whitney is designed and built for scientists on the summit of the highest peak in the 48 contiguous states to protect people, supplies, and equipment in extreme conditions.
1910 Whitaker’s Forest, 320 forested acres on the slopes of Redwood Mountain northeast of Badger and adjacent to Sequoia National Park, is donated to the University of California by Horace Whitaker, to be preserved in its natural state and become an experimental area for the demonstration of forestry principles (August 26, 1910).
1910 Local ranchers pitched in $2.50 each, along with their labor, to build the sturdy little Kaweah Post Office; still standing on North Fork Drive in Three Rivers, it was designated a California Historical Landmark in 1948.
1912 The city of Woodlake is founded in Tulare County; Woodlake is incorporated in 1941.
1912 The C. A. Elster Building is constructed in Springville.
1915 Whitaker’s Forest is established as a research plot by the UC Berkeley Center for Forestry.
1916 The National Park Service is created within the Department of the Interior to manage the growing number of federal parks.
1918 The Save the Redwoods League is founded in California.
1919 Cutler Park (between Visalia and Ivanhoe) is donated by John Cutler to Tulare County to preserve its magnificent oaks and riparian environment as a park.
1920 The Mineral Leasing Act defines a system of leasing and development for mining interests on federal lands that includes management of mining property and government compensation.
1923 Mooney Grove Park is expanded from its original 100 acres to 155 acres.
1923 Bartlett Park is donated to Tulare County by the city of Porterville, which raised the money to buy the land on the condition that it would be given to the County to manage and maintain as a park.
1923 Balch Park (160 acres) is established as a Tulare County park on December 14, on land donated by A.C. Balch of Los Angeles; his grant provides that the tree and plant life be forever maintained and the property be used for public purposes only.
1926 The General Grant Tree (in Grant Grove in General Grant National Park, now Kings Canyon National Park) is designated as the Nation’s Christmas Tree (April 28, 1926).
1926 Sequoia National Park is expanded by 140%, to 604 square miles, by a bill signed by President Calvin Coolidge (July 3, 1926).
1927 Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District is formed.
