Wildland Plantings and Urban Forestry: Native and Exotic 1911-1977
| Authors: | Klaus Radtke, County of Los Angeles Department of Forester and Fire Warden |
| Year: | 1978 |
| Type: | Miscellaneous |
| Station: | Pacific Southwest Research Station |
| Source: | Los Angeles, CA: Forestry Division, County of Los Angeles Department of Forester and Fire Warden in Cooperation with Chaparral R&D Program, Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service. 74 p. |
Abstract
Since 1973, the Los Angeles County Forestry Division has been cooperating with the Forest Service Riverside Fire Laboratory on fire retardant plant research through yearly agreements. In 1976, the County and the PSW Experimental Station in Berkeley entered into the "Chaparral Ecology and Related Ecosystems Studies" program under which the scope of the initial agreement of fire retardant plant research was greatly expanded.
In a joint meeting between personnel of the Experimental Station and the County in the summer of 1976, Project Leader Gene Conrad of the chaparral program requested that the County, as the oldest afforestation agency in Southern California, write a history of its endeavors. This report was to cover the Division 's involvement with the management of the watershed of Los Angeles County.
After 18 months of poring through more than 60 years of accumulated files, meetings with former Division personnel, and field evaluations of outplantings accomplished over the last 25 years, the report is completed. Virtually every member of the Division participated in providing information and helped with field evaluations of outplantings. Without such help, this report could not have been completed.
Emphasis of this report was directed to outplantings of trees both for soil erosion projects and plantation establishment through chaparral conversion. Work of the Parks Section (a section of the Forestry Division until 1945) was omitted as it does not relate directly to chaparral management. The Parks Section was responsible for the establishment of County parks and for the planting and maintenance of roadside trees throughout the County. Many of the older trees still lining streets in the foothill communities and other parts of the County can be attributed to their efforts.