Rafael León y García

Rafael León y García, a.k.a., Rafael de León (c.1818 – c.1888) was Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 1874 to 1875. He is best remembered for issuing, in 1874, a circular describing the urgent need to conserve Puerto Rico’s forests to avoid ruining the island’s agriculture. Only 9700 hectares (23, 969 acres) of heavily timbered forest remained in the Luquillo Forest at the time.