Conservationist Miguel Angel de Quevedo (1862-1946) was active in the protection of Mexican tree stocks. In order to promote reforestation, he tried to cultivate seedlings and, therefore, created a vivero (tree nursery) in the borough of Coyoacán in Mexico City. The arboretum soon became the centerpiece for further nurseries, and within the early twentieth century over 2.5 million trees were planted, most of them in the capital’s surrounding environs. Between 1913 and 1914 alone, about 140,000 trees were added to the forest stand. Because of their importance to preserving the Mexican tree stock, the Viveros de Coyoacán were declared a national park by President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río in 1938. Today, the nursery produces over a million seedlings per year and is frequented by several thousand visitors every day.
- Simonian, Lane. Defending the Land of the Jaguar: A History of Conservation in Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995.