California State Parks Orchard and Fruit Trees Online Survey

The California Department of Parks and Recreation Cultural Stewardship Program has conducted an on-line survey of state parks with orchards and fruit trees.  Historic orchards and fruit trees are newly recognized types of cultural landscape resources, and more information is now available for their management.  In 2008, the National Park Service (NPS) Cultural Landscapes Program will publish a historic context study of orchards throughout the United States from 1600 until the present.  This document will identify the historic characteristics of fruit trees and orchards in different periods and provides guidance for evaluating their significance and integrity. California Department of Parks and Recreation (CDPR) partnered with the NPS to provide historic orchard stabilization and preservation training, and to conduct the survey with these objectives:

o To identify state parks with potentially historic fruit trees/orchards, greater than 50 years old;
o To identify parks with potentially non-historic fruit trees/orchards, less than 50 years old;
o To identify parks that maintain or have management objectives to maintain orchards/fruit trees;
o To identify the range of fruit tree species and varieties in parks;
o To identify the geographic distribution throughout the state of fruit tree species in parks;
o To identify the potential total number of orchards and fruit trees in parks;
o To identify information needs about orchards and fruit trees in state parks.


Check back to this webpage for updated information.  The results of the survey will made available in the months to come.  Thank you to the many that provided data for our survey.  If you would like more details on the NPS-CDPR Orchard Survey please contact the Cultural Resources Division at (916) 653-2030.

John Muir NHS historic olive orchard planted in the 1800s, Manzanillo variety shown in the insert photograph.

Pictured : John Muir National Historic Site olive orchard, Manzanillo variety shown in the insert photograph. Photo provided by National Park Service.