Natural History Wanderings

Updated 

It has brought to my attention that there were some errors in the LA Times story. For more information on the development of the San Gabriels you might check the following post from KCET: http://www.kcet.org/living/travel/socal_wanderer/national-park/national-park-service-proposes-expanded-unit-of-the-santa-monica-mountains.html

The LA Times  reports that the U.S. Dept. of Interior has recommended designating the San Gabriel River watershed and part of the San Gabriel Mountains as a national recreation area. This will make the area eligible for additional law enforcement, interpretive signs, hiking trails, trash collection and other services. The Times reports:

Salazar’s long-awaited recommendation to Congress seeks to balance a crush of tourists with conservation. The designation would transform the 655,000-acre range, portions of the San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo corridors and Puente-Chino Hills into a unit of the National Park system co-managed by the National Park Service, federal officials said.

The recommendation followed a decade of study and meetings with cities, environmental groups and recreational organizations, fire departments, flood control agencies and water districts laying claims on the watershed, which provides Los Angeles County with 70% of its open space and roughly 33% of its water.

The mountain range has free-flowing rivers, lush canyons and wrinkled slopes that are home to many rare and endangered species, including Nelson’s bighorn sheep, mountain yellow-legged frogs, Santa Ana suckers and Pacific pond turtles.

Read more U.S. seeks national recreation area status for San Gabriels – latimes.com.