Stanislaus National Forest Celebrates 127th Birthday Filled with History 

By Kimberly Hill, Stanislaus National Forest 

How do you wish happy birthday to a forest? By exploring its pristine rivers, snowcapped mountains, and flowering meadows. There’s always plenty of ways to celebrate in the nearly 900,000 acres that make up the Stanislaus National Forest. While the geological wonders that carved this piece of land occurred millions of years ago, what we know as the Stanislaus National Forest began just 127 years ago. 

The Stanislaus National Forest is among the oldest of the national forests in the United States. It was created Feb. 22, 1897. President Grover Cleveland set aside 13 areas in the western U.S., to include the Stanislaus, as designated forest preserves — making all 13 of them #11 in oldest national forests in America. 

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt would transfer these forest preserves from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture to become an official national forest.  

A Birthday Millions of Years in the Making 

Forming roughly 10 million years ago, a block of the earth’s crust started to tilt to the west causing rivers to cut deep canyons on both sides of the range. During later ice ages, glaciers formed and carved out canyons throughout the Sierra. The uplift of the Sierra is still occurring, causing earthquakes like the Lone Pine earthquake of 1872. 

The range has been occupied by people since 9000 BC, with various bands of Central Sierra Me-Wuk as the most recent Native Americans in this area. Before settlers arrived, they lived in villages and temporary camps, often near springs or along small creeks. 

So what about the name—Stanislaus? You can thank the Stanislaus River, whose headwaters are in the Sierra Nevada foothills in the forest. This river was named after Estanislao, the baptized name of an Indigenous leader educated at Mission San José.  As a member of the Lakisamni tribe of the Yokuts people in Northern California, Estanislao led raids and revolts against the Mexican government for oppression toward the Indigenous people. 

The gold rush of 1848 brought nearly 300,000 people throughout California — bringing miners, immigrants, homesteaders and ranchers, dam builders and loggers to the Sierra Nevada foothills. Evidence of these mines, railroads and camps still exist today. 

Celebrating Today’s Stanislaus 

The whole Sierra Nevada region has suffered from devastating wildfires the past 20 years, fueled by climate change and forest overgrowth. As part of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, the Stanislaus National Forest is working on several thinning projects, fuel treatments and prescribed fires over the next two years to protect lives, critical infrastructure, and our communities.  

Primarily focused along California’s Highway 108, the 305,000-acre planning area is a mix of federal, state, and private land. Plans are underway to treat up to 120,000 acres of national forest, with an additional 118,000 acres proposed for treatments. 

“It is fitting on the auspicious occasion of our forest’s 127th birthday that our work across the forest focuses on returning the forest to look more like it did back then than it does right now. It is our hope that the work we do today will ensure there is a Stanislaus National Forest for generations to come — for all to enjoy, recreate and find solace in,” said Jason Kuiken, supervisor for the Stanislaus National Forest