Landscapes at Risk

Over 50 years in the making, Innisfree was largely the work of landscape architect Lester Collins (1914–1993). He combined Modernist ideas with traditional Chinese and Japanese garden design principles. This distinctive strolling garden on 185-acres surrounds a large glacial lake. While Innisfree's short-term legacy is secure, challenges remain. Patron: Walter and Marion Beck

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (CLF) has announced its “Landslide 2012: Landscape and Patronage,” a compendium of 12 threatened/at-risk landscapes. The list explains the history of the landscapes, their conditions today and details about the patrons and organizations that made the landscapes possible. By presenting the list, CLF hopes to inspire a new generation of patrons.

Among the compromised landscaped on the list is Jack London Lake. The lake today is a marsh, and the dam is cracked.

Between 1905 and his death in 1916, novelist Jack London bought 1,400 acres of pastoral and hilly land in the Sonoma Valley of northern California (Glen Ellen) and built “Beauty Ranch.” He made the land a working farm, planted an 80-acre orchard, terraced hillsides for crops, built livestock structures, planted 100,000 eucalyptus seedlings on the nonarable land (there were already madrones, manzanitas, redwoods, and Douglas firs on site), and dammed a creek to create a five-acre, fish-stocked lake with a dock and bathhouse.

London and his second wife, Charmian, lived at Beauty Ranch until their deaths, his in 1916; her’s in 1955. She bequeathed 39 acres of the ranch to the state. Bit by bit, California State Parks acquired ownership of the entire site and created Jack London State Historic Park. The park was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962.

In 2006, the Valley of the Moon* Natural History Association established the Jack London Lake Alliance to repair the dam, dredge the lake, and restore riparian areas, but funding ran short. (* “Sonoma” is said to be an Indian name meaning “valley of the moon,” a phrase London used as the title for one of his novels.)

The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s at risk landscapes include:

Charles Birnbaum, FASLA established the Cultural Landscape Foundation in 1998.
For more information about the landscapes, visit https://tclf.org/annual-spotlight/landslide-2012-landscape-and-patronage