There is a forest tucked behind a park in Riverside, California. Kids explore and memories are made from playing pretend to calming walks. The forest was used by all sorts of different people. The forest comforts all, like, four-year-old pirates or teenagers finishing up a book. The soothing swaying of branches, the chirping birds, and the trickling of water from the nearby stream, all add to the calming scene. On any hot, sunny summer day you can hear laughter coming from the forest. Hundreds of memories have been made within the trees. The forest stays unthreatened and looks almost unbothered, but it hasn’t always been this way.  

In 1993, a company came to Riverside. They decided that they wanted to build something in the place of the forest. Back then, the park was yet to be built, so that space was open. The forest was just as popular back then as it is now, so the city’s people had something against the company. The people decided to be peaceful and created a petition for the forest to be left alone. They then gathered together and signed the petition. They took it to the mayor and demanded that the company leave the forest alone.

After thinking it over, the mayor then declared that to make the company leave the forest be, the forest had to have an owner. Without hesitating, a person in the group gave an idea. “ What if the forest were to own itself?” the person questioned.

The mayor thought for a moment, then agreed. From then on, the forest owned itself and no one attempted to try to tear it down again. In 2002, a park is built and everything is peaceful like it should be.