By Tom Molloy
President’s Executive Order Creates the San Gabriel Mountain National Monument
In January, President Obama’s executive order split the heavily used Angeles National Forest in two, placing one half inside a brand-new San Gabriel Mountains National Monument while leaving out the other half. Although seen by most in the environmental community as a positive development, many are calling for an expansion of the monument boundaries by Congress or the President.
Many of the areas under the heaviest use by hikers are not included in the boundary, including environmentally significant parts such as the Big Tujunga Creek, a major source of Los Angeles water. The National Forests Foundation has committed $3 million toward improvements within the monument. The U.S. Forest Service published a list of monument projects.
The 161,000 acres torched by the 2009 Station Fire, the largest fire in Los Angeles County history, where subsequent heavy rains created destructive mud slides are not included in the area. There is some talk, of the proposed Rim of the Valley National Recreation Area that could create a unit of the U.S. National Park Service that would include the omitted portions of the Angeles above Pasadena, Glendale and the eastern San Fernando Valley, as well as the Santa Susanna and Verdugo mountains. Representative Chu who plans to re-introduce her San Gabriel National Recreation Area bill, which could supersede the president’s proclamation and potentially include these and other omitted areas — if adopted by Congress and signed by the President.
The entire Angeles National Forest area sees an astounding four million visitors a year. Ten million people are within an hour’s drive of the San Gabriel Mountains. So why is the declaration as a National Monument Important?
Currently the cash-strapped U.S. Forest Service tries to manage the mountains. Picnic sites and trail heads are often strewn with trash. People illegally barbecue in the middle of rivers, pitch tents alongside narrow roads, and leave graffiti behind. Under national monument designation, the Forest Service gives priority to recreation, garbage and graffiti removal, traffic, signage, hiking trails and education programs.
The new status also provides more protection for wildlife and curtails mining and other activities. The beleaguered San Gabriel Mountains are home to rare and endangered species, including mountain lions, Nelson’s bighorn sheep, mountain yellow-legged frogs, Santa Ana suckers and Pacific pond turtles, bob cats, and more.
As an example of the Mountain ranges overuse and abuse, the Fisheries Resource Volunteer Corps has removed about 9 tons of trash, 2,182 graffiti tags and 161 illegal fire rings from the Angeles National Forest over the last year.
