NATIONAL MONUMENTS: USDA officials' trip stokes talk of designation for San Gabriel Mountains
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Tuesday, August 26, 2014
The Agriculture Department is sending two top officials to the Los Angeles area today to discuss ways to enhance recreation and protection at the San Gabriel Mountains, stirring hope among conservationists that President Obama might make it a national monument.
USDA Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment Robert Bonnie and Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell will host a panel at Baldwin Park with local elected officials, recreation advocates and cultural preservationists to discuss recreational access and "protection of scenic, cultural and historic areas" on the Angeles and San Bernardino national forests, according to a news release.
"The managers of the most urban forest in the country must reassess how to remain committed to forest and watershed conservation while meeting the challenge of increasing recreational demands," the Forest Service said. "The Forest Service will engage the public to explore opportunities to achieve our shared goals to enhance protection of wildland and watershed values."
The meeting comes one week after five House Democrats from California sent a letter calling on Obama to designate about 600,000 acres of the San Gabriels as a national monument, preserving a watershed that provides a third of Los Angeles County's drinking water and provides an iconic backdrop to the Los Angeles basin.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who in June introduced H.R. 4858 to establish the 615,245-acre San Gabriel National Recreation Area and who spearheaded the monument letter, is scheduled to attend, as is former Obama Labor Secretary and recently elected Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, according to the Wilderness Society.
While the Forest Service made no mention of a "national monument," one conservationist in an email this morning noted that the presence of two high-level officials in Los Angeles to take public comment "is DEFINITELY momentum" toward a monument designation.
Another conservationist, Matt Keller of the Wilderness Society (TWS), said a national monument is "part of the discussion" that USDA wants to have but cautioned the agency doesn't want to prejudge a solution.
"It's a step in the right direction in terms of starting that conversation," said Keller, who serves as TWS's national monuments campaign director.
TWS is part of the group San Gabriel Mountains Forever, which argues a monument designation would add protection against mineral leasing and commercial development in the mountains, protect rare species including the California condor and Nelson's bighorn sheep, and focus federal resources to enhance recreation for the more than 3 million annual visitors to the mountains.
Keller said the mountains are very heavily used, but they lack adequate staffing to manage recreation including camping, trash pickup and parking.
Obama has used the 1906 Antiquities Act to bypass Congress and designate 11 new national monuments in the past five years, most recently in May, when he designated the nearly 500,000-acre Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in southern New Mexico.
But a relatively small amount of Forest Service lands has been protected compared with lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
Some conservation advocates believe the San Gabriel Mountains are the most likely next place Obama will protect, and they're working hard to mobilize turnout at today's event.
They'll likely tout a poll this month of 400 registered voters in Los Angeles County that found that 55 percent "would tell the president to take action" on proposals to permanently protect the San Gabriel Mountains and rivers (E&ENews PM, Aug. 18).
In addition, the group Vet Voice Foundation today announced it is sponsoring paid advertisements in the Los Angeles Times and San Gabriel Valley Tribune and on KPCC radio thanking Bonnie for visiting the area and urging permanent protections.
"From military boots to hiking boots, veterans and active military enjoy California's San Gabriel Mountains with friends and family," one ad reads.
But the size of such a monument will likely draw criticism from Republicans in Congress, who argue that the Antiquities Act has been abused to protect places that face no imminent threats and to set aside larger areas than are necessary to protect natural resources.
While a monument would likely permanently ban mineral development and other developments in the San Gabriels, it would not in itself allocate new federal funding or human resources to improve recreation. That would require an act of Congress or a decision by federal officials to allocate more of their budgets to the mountains.
