Why Did the Army Plant Forests?

Historical aerial photo overlooking empty hills with young trees around Fort Baker.

You are standing under trees planted 100 years ago. The trees you see surrounding this bowl-shaped valley are the remnants of stands planted at that time. In October of 1908 a San Francisco newspaper gave this account of tree planting activities in the Marin Headlands.

Thousands of trees--redwoods, pine, gum and other varieties--will be planted at Fort Baker and Fort Barry military reservations by the U.S. government in the near future. The extensive planting is to conserve water in the dry soil, to make the forts more habitable by using the trees as windbreaks, and to beautify the harbor and its entrance. The gum and pine trees used will be transplanted from the Presidio in San Francisco.

The windswept hills of Fort Baker were originally covered by a mixture of grassland, coastal scrub, and, in the more protected areas, there is oak woodland dominated by coast live oak. The army planted thousands of non-native trees, mostly Monterey pine, Monterey cypress and Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus. These fast-growing trees soon provided protection from the incessant winds. Today, the park prunes and thins stands of planted trees to maintain the historic landscape. To restore critical native habitat and maintain historic vistas, the park may remove trees outside the planted forest.