Campaign Briefs Hiking and Forest Restoration Projects Join us on fun, conservation-oriented hikes to special forest places such as the Pleasant View Ridge proposed wilderness area and the East and West Forks of the San Gabriel River. Click here for more information, time, and dates. Bienvenidos a La Campaña Forestal del Sur de California Si usted esta interesado en conocer y explorar los bosques en ayudar a protegerlos haga clic aquí.. Reaching Out To People Of Faith Learn about this new forest stewardship program. Click here.

We've made it easy for you to join others in taking simple actions to reduce the threats to our nearby national forests and to enjoy, protect and restore them. Click here to join the Southern California Forests Campaign today.

Learn more about our new San Gabriel Mountains Group working in Claremont and other nearby foothill cities

Boxer, McKeon Introduce Landmark
San Gabriel Mountains Wilderness Bill

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA) have launched a bipartisan legislative effort to protect over 470,000 acres of wilderness and 52 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers in California. The legislation--The Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act--would also designate as wilderness 28,000-acre Pleasant View Ridge, which Sierra Club volunteers have been working to protect for over 20 years.

The Pleasant View Ridge area would be permanently protected in Congressman McKeon's and Senator Boxer's new wilderness bill. Photo: Andrew Harvey, used with permission.

"Pleasant View Ridge is the most spectacular potential wilderness area in the San Gabriel Mountains and is the home to many Sierra Club hikes," said Erik Counseller, co-chair of the Angeles Chapter's Forest Committee and chair of its hiking section. "We've been working very hard to develop public support for the area and it looks like it's paying off." Forest Committee volunteers have been leading hikes into the area, helping map potential wilderness boundaries, and sending postcards to Congressman McKeon asking for wilderness protection for Pleasant View Ridge.

The Pleasant View proposed wilderness area is located roughly 30 miles northeast of La Canada, north of the Angeles Crest Highway where the San Gabriel Mountains slope north to meet the Mojave Desert. The area features 8,200-foot Mt. Williamson and other dramatic peaks, formidable cliffs, the headwaters of Little Rock Creek, remote backcountry and some of the most magnificent canyon country in the San Gabriel Mountains. The proposed wilderness area contains a section of the Pacific Crest Trail and is home to bighorn sheep and the mountain yellow-legged frog, Joshua trees and old-growth pine.

The Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act will give wilderness designation--the highest level of protection and conservation for federal lands--to over 470,000 acres of federal public land in California. Specifically, the bill designates an additional 430,671 acres of wilderness in Mono and Inyo counties and establishes more than 45 miles of the Owens River headwaters and Amargosa River as Wild and Scenic Rivers. The bill also designates an additional 42,000 of wilderness in Los Angeles County, and it establishes more than seven miles of Piru Creek as a Wild and Scenic River.

For a text of the wilderness bill and maps of proposed areas, click here.

All of the lands in the bill are in Congressman McKeon's sprawling 25th Congressional District, which runs all the way from Santa Clarita northeast through sections of the Sierras and the White Mountains to the Nevada border. In addition to Pleasant View Ridge the new wilderness legislation includes 13,000-acre Magic Mountain (not to be confused with the amusement park of the same name) in the San Gabriel Mountains about 10 miles east of Santa Clarita.

Seven Sierra Club volunteers attended the news conference hosted in late May by McKeon, waving a variety of homemade signs they had created, including one saying "Families Love Wilderness." At the press conference, Congressman McKeon spoke very highly of Magic Mountain and Pleasant View Ridge--as five California condors miraculously executed a flyover as if to salute the new wilderness bill. Laurie Ender, Councilwoman for the City of Santa Clarita, also spoke on behalf of the new legislation as did Connie Bullock on behalf of the Santa Clarita Casting Club and Trout Unlimited.

"Wilderness" is the gold standard of federal land designations, adding a new level of protection to public land that precludes development, roads and off-road vehicles as well as power lines and dams. The last wilderness addition to the San Gabriel Mountains occurred in 1984 when congress designated the 42,000 acre Sheep Mountain Wilderness which includes the highest point in the San Gabriel Mountains, 10,064 Mt. Baldy (also known as Mt. San Antonio).

The land protected in the Sierras under the bill includes the White Mountains, America's largest and highest desert mountain range, according to a press release issued by Boxer and McKeon The second largest unprotected roadless area in the lower 48 states, the Whites are home to the world's oldest living trees--the ancient Bristlecone Pines--which live almost 5,000 years. The new legislation would also makes additions to the Hoover Wilderness, a classic High Sierra landscape of deeply carved glacial valleys dotted with tranquil alpine lakes and forests of lodgepole pine. The Amargosa River, which the bill also protects, is the only river flowing into Death Valley, and it sustains biologically rich wetlands and riparian forests as it makes its way through ancient, rugged canyons.

"Getting this bill passed will not be easy with only a few months left in the congressional session," said Juana Torres, who works for the Sierra Club's San Gabriel Mountains Campaign. Complaints about the bill have already surfaced in pockets of Congressman McKeon's generally conservative district, including a series of negative comments in the Inyo Register published out of Bishop. "We really need to support Senator Boxer and Congressman McKeon in their efforts and continually remind them that there is wide public support for the wilderness bill," Torres added.

As large areas of undeveloped open space dwindle in urban Southern California, protecting our ability to enjoy beauty and solitude in our nearby national forests becomes all the more important. The best ways to help support the new bill are to join the San Gabriel Mountains Campaign and to attend the next Forest Committee event. The Forest Committee has sponsored a bimonthly series of well-attended public programs at Eaton Canyon Nature Center, in Pasadena. The next event will be a potluck picnic at Eaton Canyon at 4 p.m. Sunday, July 27. Come and learn how you can help out.

95 People Applaud Chris Brennen's
"Canyoneering:
Top to Bottom in the San Gabriels"

In March the Sierra Club's Forest Committee presented a special program filled with adventure and excitement presented by Caltech Professor Chris Brennen. The title of Chris's talk was "Canyoneering: Top to Bottom in the San Gabriels." The event took place on at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center in Pasadena with a full house of 95 people in attendance.

Chris, a long-time canyoneering expert, told stories about his exploration of the rugged canyons and waterfalls in our beloved San Gabriel Mountains and how they needed to be better protected to preserve rappelling and other backcountry recreational opportunities. Chris shared his experiences about rappelling down dozens of waterfalls while traversing parts of canyons most hikers never visit. See more on San Gabriels canyoneering.

The Forest Committee's next program is Wednesday, May 28th at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center. Christopher Nyerges will present "Forest Food and Wilderness Survival." Nyerges has conducted hundreds of classes, lectures, outings and field trips in outdoor skills, Native American themes and wild plants over the last three decades. His School of Self-Reliance and his many books tell how to find and use edible and medicinal plants, make fire without matches, find and purify water, and the uses of home survival kits and primitive shelters. His program offers innovative ways to feel more confident in the wilderness or at home in an emergency.

A social reception at 7:00 p.m. precedes the program at 7:30 p.m. at Eaton Canyon Nature Center, 1750 N. Altadena Drive, Pasadena. From the 210 Fwy in Pasadena, take Altadena Drive north toward the mountains about 1.5 miles, and 500 feet after crossing New York Drive, turn right into Eaton Canyon Park. For information, email donbremner@earthlink.net.

Photo © Christopher Earls Brennen; used with permission.

Sierra Club Volunteers Explore Proposed Cucamonga Wilderness Additions

This fall 12 intrepid Sierra Club volunteers hiked up 8,300 foot Timber Mountain on the eastern flank of the San Gabriel Mountains, starting out from the popular Ice House Canyon trail in the 13,000 acre Cucamonga Wilderness. Their objective was to view a potential expansion of the existing wilderness area to the north and east that would almost double the size of the Cucamonga Wilderness.

Our campaign photographer, Andrew Harvey, joined the happy trekkers and you can click here to see a sample of the pictures he took along the way.

From the summit of Timber our volunteers could see 10,000 foot Mt. Baldy in the distance to the northwest and east towards Lytle Creek, where the Forest Service has recommended additions to the Cucamonga Wilderness. This new area is home to Nelson's bighorn sheep, some of the largest sugar pines in southern California, and opportunities for remote hiking and nature viewing. The Forest Service recently recommended expansion of the Cucamonga Wilderness based on requests from the public--including over 1000 Sierra Club members--when the agency issued new management plans for the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests.

How can you help make the Forest Service's recommendations become a reality? The first thing you can do is join our Forests Campaign by clicking here. Additionally, you can help out by joining our efforts to better protect the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Gabriel River. To read more about our new San Gabriel Mountains campaign, see below.

120 People Attend Launch Parties To Celebrate New Effort To Better Protect San Gabriel Mountains

The Southern California Forests Campaign launched its new San Gabriel Mountains Wilderness and Living Rivers Campaign in May. Over 120 people attended community meetings in Pasadena on May 23 rd and Claremont on May 31 st , which featured brief presentations on mountain and river issues and offered Forests Campaign members the opportunity to get involved.

The twin goals of the new campaign are to improve the health of our mountains and rivers as we expand the opportunities for kids, families, and everyone to improve their own physical and spiritual health. Key campaign priorities will be to add wilderness areas and wild and scenic rivers to the Angeles and the western San Bernardino National Forests while enhancing water quality and recreational opportunities along the North, West, and East Forks of the San Gabriel River.

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino's field representative presents Bill Corcoran from the Sierra Club a certificate of recognition in honor of the new San Gabriel Mountains Wilderness and Living Rivers Campaign.

Claremont City Council member San Pedroza offered his support for the campaign at the Claremont meeting as did Bill Hacket at the Pasadena meeting on behalf of Assemblyman Anthony Portantino. Bill is the assemblyman's field representative. The Forest Campaign's Juana Torres served as host for the parties. Representatives of Friends of the River and the National Hispanic Environmental Council also attended the launch events and offered their support, too.

Farley and Ann Olander, authors of Call of the Mountains, led off the meeting with a special presentation on the magnificence of the San Gabriels to remind us of the importance of protecting our natural heritage. Cathy Roberts, who helped spearhead a UCLA study of the San Gabriel River, provided a moving program segment entitled Saving the San Gabriel River: Our Forest, Our River, Our Backyard.

The UCLA study documents the challenges that thousands of largely Latino visitors face when they visit the forks of the San Gabriel River: lack of basic facilities, including toilets, trash cans, safe river access, educational materials and forest rangers, let alone rangers who speak Spanish. The study also offers solutions and an initial vision of how we can enhance the visitor experience, improve water quality, and protect habitat for river creatures. Forest Campaign members who participate in the new San Gabriel Mountains campaign will have the opportunity to help contribute to the development of this new vision.

The San Gabriel Mountains constitute over 70% of the open space in Los Angeles County. However, only 12% of the Angeles National Forest -- home to most of the San Gabriel Mountain range -- is protected by official wilderness status, the gold standard of land protection that requires an act of Congress. Expanding wilderness protection is important before pristine backcountry areas fall victim to growing threats from massive power transmission lines, illegal off-road vehicle use, and even toll roads. Click here to read the Forest Campaign's threats report.

All of the proposed wilderness areas have either been recommended for protection by the Forest Service or actively considered for recommendation in the recent forest management plans developed by the agency.

You can be part of winning a great natural legacy by ensuring that crown jewels of the Angeles backcountry such as Pleasant View Ridge and additions to the Cucamonga Wilderness frequented by bighorn sheep are protected and kept undeveloped for future generations to enjoy as places of natural beauty. You can help out with our new forest protection efforts by joining the Southern California Forests Campaign. Click here to join us.

Bienvenidos a La Campaña Forestal del Sur de California.
Para más información sobre nuestros bosques locales y los riesgos que enfrentan haga clic aquí . Si quiere ayudar a proteger nuestros bosques por favor mandele un mensaje a la Agencia Forestal para decirle que mejore los Planes Forestales, haga clic aquí, y lo llevara a una carta que usted facilmente puede llenar. O hable al (213) 387-6528 ext 226 para hablar con Juana Torres. También hay información disponible acerca de nuestro nuevo reporte que documenta los 10 riesgos más grandes que enfrentan nuestros bosques. Para leer un resumen y la historia de los riesgos al popular Rió de San Gabriel haga clic aquí.

100 YEARS AGO, few roads crossed our local mountains and development around the region's new national forests was minimal.

50 YEARS AGO, undeveloped open space still connected most of our four local national forests -- the Los Padres, Cleveland, Angeles, and San Bernadino national forests -- creating a web of life that stretched from Carmel in the north to San Diego in the south.

NOW, these four forests have mostly become islands in a sea of sprawl. Worse, development on the forests themselves threatens to destroy scenic views, scar the land and put wildlife at risk. From proposed oil drilling in the Los Padres National Forest above Ventura to a proposed toll road through the Cleveland National Forest, energy and mining companies and government agencies are making our forests less wild, less beautiful. Stretching from Big Sur to Mexico, these four national forests need better management if they are to survive the 21st Century.

Join the Sierra Club's Southern California Forests Campaign.

	Easy ways to help protect and restore Southern California's forests: Join the Sierra Club's Southern California Forests Campaign. Sign up for our monthly email updates of hikes, special events, and actions you can take to protect our local forests. Tell us about a special place you know about in the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino or Cleveland national forest that needs protection or restoration.