Theodore Parker Lukens (October 6, 1848 – July 1, 1918) was an American conservationist, real estate investor, civic leader, and forester who believed that burned over mountains could again be covered in timber which would protect watersheds.

Lukens collected pine cones and seeds of different types and conducted experimental plantings on the mountain slopes above Pasadena, California.

Wildfires caused the worst damage due to the Mediterranean climate of long, hot and dry summers which turned fires into infernos, leaving behind burned and bare hillsides, resulting in erosion and flooding during the rainy season.

The next year Lukens, with support by the Forest and Water Association, planted several thousand knobcone and ponderosa pine seeds in the San Gabriel mountains above Altadena, California.

Lukens' reported to the association that "ridges and crowns of hills were selected, that when the trees came into fruiting the seed would be cast in different directions down steep slopes.

[11] Lukens worked to make Henninger Flats a high elevation tree nursery that would produce seedlings for reforestation and watershed restoration efforts.

Galen Clark, former Guardian of the Yosemite Grant, approved massive tree plantings, and declared this a "grand enterprise..." in a 1904 letter to Lukens.

[14] Locally, his work at Henninger Flats was recognized when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and George H. Maxwell, executive director of the National Reclamation Association, inspected the tree nursery and nearby slopes, accompanied by Lukens.

Woodbury's report also suggested that tree planting become a research subject and recommended it be assigned to the newly established Feather River Experiment Station, located in the Plumas National Forest.

He was instrumental in the discovery of the first major gold strike is the San Gabriel Mountains and settled in the small hanging valley above Altadena, California.

After clearing the chaparral he planted hay, melons, vegetables, and fruit and nut trees, carrying the produce to town down the steep mile and a half trail he built.

Currently, the county fire department manages the site, which is now known as the Henninger Flats Conservation Center and operates a museum, campground, and tree nursery.

[18] The agency also made expense and payroll mistakes which cost him money, He tendered his 11-word resignation on August 12, 1906[18] which also ended his work at Henninger Flats.

Lukens made several trips to Yosemite National Park, each time his interest in every aspect of nature intensified, and led to research, correspondence and interviews with experts for whom he collected various specimens and photographed specific items.

A self-taught photographer, he prepared albums of 100 to 150 photos of trees and mountains for friends such as Senator John Bard and Alice Eastwood, botanist at the California Academy of Sciences, among others.

A few miles south of the valley, he came across a man wearing a rumpled suit, vest, white shirt; without food, pack animals or companions.

Muir sent Lukems a copy of Picturesque California, volume II with a note to read Jeanne Carr's chapter on Los Angeles County.

In a letter to the Pasadena Daily News, Lukens wrote- "The small portion of this great park now owned and controlled by the State of California should be receded to the national government, and have it all under one management.

Both Lukens and Richardson wrote about the horseback trip for the Sierra Club Bulletin and the weekly Pasadena newspaper Town Talk.

Lukens was unapologetic about the hunting incident but Muir in turn advocated the creation of wildlife refuges within the national park and forest reservations.

Lukens who went with the party and looked with a feeling of pride on the result of his efforts many years ago," The Los Angeles Times reported June 12, 1915.

The 1915 article went on to predict, "as a result of this foresight and the trip yesterday, 1,000,000 trees perhaps will be planted on the barren and burned stretches of the mountains this year."

[29] Their only child, Helen was born January 9, 1872, and when she turned 8, he moved the family to California to improve a deteriorating financial and health situation.

The same day that the names on the pledge were revealed, a white mob gathered by a Chinese laundry, started a fire after throwing stones at the business, and eventually looted the establishment after the workers had fled.

[5] Two years later, the Southern California land boom swept Lukens, the first real estate agent in Pasadena, into a wealthy position.

[32] "To be disposed from a position for no other fault than standing for principles, is an honor rather than a disgrace", commented the Los Angeles Daily Hotel Gazette.

[32] During Lukens' first term as mayor, he had the pleasure of receiving two dignitaries: President Benjamin Harrison and First Lady Caroline, who visited Pasadena on March 23 and 24, 1891 during their tour of the west.

"[35] A Lukens Memorial Forestry Society was begun by poet John S. McGroarty and Marshall V. Hartranft, co-founder of the socialist Little Lands Colony.

She was married in 1890 to Edward Everett Jones, the Bank of Pasadena cashier who replaced Lukens, and they had two children, Charlotte ("Lottie") and Ralph.

[40] The Lukens family home on 267 N. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 29, 1984.