McNear: Mendocino’s unique pygmy forests remain thanks to one enterprising woman

When Disneyland opened to the public on July 17, 1955, one of the first rides was the Storybook Land Canal Boats. Guests board a small boat to view charming miniature models of settings from beloved animated films, including Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Cinderella.

In the Pinocchio model, a three-foot-tall tree stands towering over the Italian village. The tree is not a model, however, but a dwarf Bolander Pine that some argue is the oldest living thing in Disneyland. The tree didn’t originally grow in Anaheim, but in the pygmy forests in Mendocino County near Van Damme State Park, where a forest of dwarf pine and cypress trees stand only a few feet tall, some less than a foot. One woman from Mendocino County played a large hand in protecting these trees so they remain today.