Will Obama create San Gabriels national monument?

Hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail east of Windy Gap in the San Gabriel Mountains. Credit: Bob Cates/Chapter historian and leader

With legislation that would create a San Gabriels National Recreation Area languishing in Congress, many of the bill’s supporters are looking to President Obama to designate the San Gabriel Mountains a national monument. They hope that he will use his authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act to bypass a deeply divided Congress and pave the way for improved recreational opportunities and preservation of resources in the local mountains.

At a packed town hall meeting Aug. 26 in Baldwin Park, panelists extolled the mountains’ attractions and underlined their importance to the region, including that they contain 70% of L.A. County’s remaining open space, are the source of 30% of local water supply, receive 3 million visitors a year, and are home to many species of plants and animals as well as important geologic, cultural and historic sites.

The meeting, sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service, seemed designed to provide Obama the public and political support he needs to create a San Gabriels national monument. The president, who has pledged to use his executive powers when needed, has created 11 national monuments, including most recently last May the 496,000-acre Organ Mountains-Desert Peak monument on New Mexico.

High level representatives of the Forest Service and its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture took part in the Baldwin Park meeting. They included Robert Bonnie, Department of Agriculture under secretary for natural resources and the environment; Thomas Tidwell, chief of the Forest Service; and Randy Moore, regional head of the Forest Service.

A pressing need to "do more"

While they did not specifically endorse the monument proposal, Forest Service Chief Tidwell said that “We recognize the need to do more.” He mentioned that the Forest Service has hired six new L.A. Conservation Corps crews to work in the forest, and added, “We have a unique opportunity to connect the urban population to the mountains.”  Bonnie said a monument designation could lead to greater resources for the San Gabriels.

The cash-short U.S. Forest Service manages the mountainous land in the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests. Most of its funding goes for fire-fighting and other purposes besides recreation. Parts of the Angeles forest are often packed with visitors, overwhelming the available restrooms, garbage containers and other facilities, leaving trash scattered along trails and riverbanks.

Rep. Judy Chu, author of the bill to create a San Gabriels National Recreation Area, said she continues to push the NRA bill, but more needs to be done now, and a national monument could accomplish much of what an NRA would do. Hilda Solis, Chu’s predecessor who years ago launched the move for an NRA study and is soon to join the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, enthusiastically endorsed the monument idea and expressed the belief that it would open new sources of revenue. So did other environmental activists. Congress members Adam Schiff, Grace Napolitano, Linda Sanchez and Tony Cardenas have joined the call for a national monument.

Janice Rutherford, chair of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, said her county learned only a week ago that it would be included in a San Gabriels national monument, and needed time to get answers on its potential management structure, effects on minerals, power transmission lines and local conditions. Her comments drew loud applause. Agriculture Under Secretary Bonnie assured her that her concerns would be taken into account.

Hundreds declare their support of action

The national monument idea came to attention only a few weeks ago, and the Aug. 26 meeting was not announced until the week before. Despite the short notice, about 400 people filled the auditorium of the Baldwin Park Performing Arts Center, and another 200 stood outside, unable to get in. The San Gabriel Mountains Forever campaign and other strong backers of a monument, had worked to turn out supporters.

Since presidents can designate only federal land as national monuments, a San Gabriels national monument could include areas of the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests, but not the downstream communities along the San Gabriel River that are included in Rep. Chu’s National Recreation Area bill.

In contrast with a San Gabriels NRA, which would bring National Park Service funds to the region, there seems to be no certain source of added revenue for a San Gabriels national monument. But some of the speakers noted that other national monuments all have attracted more funds.

After the panelists’ discussion, audience members talked with Forest Service staff in the lobby and were urged to write comments on the monument proposal, and send them to Angeles National Forest, Supervisor’s Office, 701 N. Santa Anita Ave., Arcadia, CA 91006. Add your voice to the call for this important next step for our local forests.

Don Bremner is co-chair of the Forest Committee of the Sierra Club-Angeles Chapter.