ABSTRACT
Public intervention in the use and management of private property has had a long history in California. In 1852, little more than a year after the state government of California was established, the state assembly adopted a resolution that reads in part as follows:
Whereas the lands of California are sparsely wooded and timber for building purposes is extremely scarce and difficult to be procured …
Be It Resolved that our Senators in Congress be instructed and our representatives requested to … procure the passage of a law whereby the settlement and occupation of all public lands upon which Redwood is growing shall be prohibited and the Redwood timber shall be declared to be the common property of the citizens of California for their private use and benefit, provided such timber shall not be made the subject of trade and traffic (Clar, 1959).
