Congress gets park service plan for a constricted San Gabriel National Recreation Area

The National Park Service, after several years of study, has recommended a much scaled-down version of a San Gabriel National Recreation Area that includes none of the Angeles National Forest. Proponents of a larger and more ambitious NRA now will look to Congress to shape and pass legislation that embodies more of their vision.
 

More info

Come explore the extraordinary landscape that should be part of the San Gabriel National Recreation Area. The Sierra Club's Pasadena Group leads a May 11 hike from Eaton Saddle to Red Box via Valley Forge Camp and a June 2 hike from Chilao to Mt. Hillyer.

To join the Forest Committee's e-mail list and keep up on development of a national necreation area, send an e-mail address to donbremner@earthlink.net. Also, sign up for updates with San Gabriel Mountains Forever, a coalition of groups including the Sierra Club that are advocating for a national recreation area at http://www.sangabrielmountains.org/

A surprised Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, whose congressional district includes much of the San Gabriels area, plans to hold a series of public meetings over the next several months to get public input as she helps shape NRA legislation.

Covering the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains along the southern fringe of Angeles National Forest from Altadena to Claremont, plus parts of the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo River corridors and the western Puente Hills, the proposed NRA would include about 50,000 acres – roughly one-tenth of the area favored by the great majority of public comments during the long study process.

And in another twist, it would be called the San Gabriel Unit of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. That 153,000-acre NRA, established in 1978, stretches westward from the vicinity of the 405 Freeway to Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County, with park headquarters in Thousand Oaks.

Like its Santa Monica predecessor, any San Gabriels NRA would overlie existing land ownership, and operate by collaborating with other agencies in partnerships for resource protection, education programs and other services.

The long San Gabriel Watershed and Mountains Special Resource Study that led to the NRA proposal released on April 10 grew out of a bill sponsored by then-Rep. Hilda Solis and approved by Congress in 2003. The study found that the San Gabriel region’s resources – rugged mountains, wildlife, minerals, historic and cultural sites, – have national significance that qualify it for inclusion in the national park system.

A study team developed concepts for National Park Service action, tested these in public meetings, refined the conceptual ideas into several alternatives, and again went to the public. More than 95% of the thousands of public comments supported what was labeled Alternative D – an area including much of Angeles National Forest, as well as some foothill areas and the river corridors to the south.

The NPS team during its study also considered Alternative D to be “the environmentally preferable alternative” because “it would protect natural and cultural resources over a larger area, provide greater opportunities relating to recreation and visitation, and foster a larger framework for cooperative management” (as compared to its alternatives A and C).

The idea was to bring the National Park Service’s expertise in recreation, education and resource preservation – and more funds -- to the Angeles National Forest, as well as downstream communities. The U.S. Forest Service would continue to manage the national forest land and set policy, and the two federal agencies would coordinate their recreational and educational efforts. Heavily used mountain recreational areas, such as those along the San Gabriel River, would get sorely needed rangers, trash bins and signage for the many picnickers and other visitors who overwhelm the sites on weekends.

Park-poor San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers areas should be included

Explaining its scaled-down recommendation in April, the NPS said a San Gabriel unit of the Santa Monica Mountains NRA would save money by combining administrative staffs. And National Park Service cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service would be facilitated by a Service First agreement under an act of Congress intended to help federal agencies cooperate in their work and funding.

Although taken aback at the limited scope of the NPS proposal, advocates of a wider NPS role saw it as the necessary next step toward congressional action. And some welcomed the recommendation that Congress create a recreation area for the urban areas of the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers to serve park-poor communities.

Rep. Chu, who has long championed the NRA concept, issued a statement saying the April recommendation by the NPS “raises many questions.” She cited the San Gabriels’ “diverse characteristics and a unique ecosystem” that are “distinct and far removed from the Santa Monica Mountains.” And she said that “the effectiveness of the Service First Authority to provide the resources and services that our community has long sought is unknown.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, whose district around Glendale and Burbank stretches to the national forest, also objected to the tie-in with the Santa Monicas region. “I am concerned that creating a separate and noncontiguous unit of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area for this region will create logistical and administrative challenges,” he wrote in a prepared statement.

Chu said she will hold a series of public comment meetings during the next several months, including a town hall with National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service representatives; roundtables with stakeholder groups; conference calls open to the public; and telephone town halls for the public to raise questions and make comments. No dates have been set yet.

Top: Map from the National Park Service's San Gabriel Watershed and Mountains Special Resource Study.

Photos: Angeles National Forest sites that wouldn't be added to the national recreation area as proposed by the National Park Service: (middle) the top of Mt. Waterman and (bottom) the Rim Trail northeast of Mt. Wilson looking out over the West Fork of the San Gabriel River.

Don Bremner is chair of the Angeles Chapter's Forest Committee.