Verdugos News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On May 25, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28) introduced the San Gabriel Mountains Protection Act. This bill would expand the borders of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument to include the western Angeles National Forest and designate over 30,000 acres of protected wilderness and 45.5 miles of protected rivers in Southern California. In the Senate, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) introduced Protecting Unique and Beautiful Landscapes by Investing in California (PUBLIC) Lands Act, a package that includes identical companion legislation to Rep. Chu’s.

Los Angeles County is one of the most park-poor and pollution burdened regions in the United States. However, more than 15 million people live within a 90-minute drive of the San Gabriel Mountains, which provide Los Angeles residents 70 percent of their available open space and 30 percent of their drinking water. The San Gabriel Mountains also contain rich cultural, historical, and geological resources, and provide critical habitat for threatened and endangered species including the California condor, Nelson’s bighorn sheep, and the Santa Ana sucker.

“The Los Angeles area is among the most park-poor regions of the country despite being blessed by gorgeous rivers, forests, and mountains of the San Gabriels right in our backyard. The San Gabriel Mountains provide a unique opportunity—particularly for minority and low-income families—to access the physical, mental, and educational benefits of nearby public lands,” said Rep. Chu. “President Obama’s National Monument designation increased access to and opportunities for learning and exploring in the mountains. This legislation would further protect the San Gabriel Mountains by preserving thousands of acres of land and water so more people now and in future generations can experience our area’s unique gifts of nature.”

In 2014, President Obama acted on Rep. Chu’s call for permanent protection of the San Gabriel Mountains and declared 346,000 acres as a national monument. The monument designation has helped raise awareness of local recreational opportunities, promoted improved access, and encouraged greater availability of management resources, including enabling the U.S. Forest Service to leverage private-public partnerships to support the stewardship of the monument. The San Gabriel Mountains Protection Act is the next step in protecting and connecting critical public lands for over 15 million Americans. This legislation expands the monument by 109,167 acres, designates approximately 31,000 acres as new or expanded wilderness areas, and adds 45.5 miles to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

“Our public lands and natural spaces are one of our state’s greatest gifts—from the San Gabriel Mountains, to the Carrizo Plain, to the Northern California Redwoods. It is incumbent upon us to be thoughtful stewards of these special places so that our communities can enjoy them and benefit from America’s natural resources for generations to come,” said Senator Padilla. “As we protect the environment, we must do so in a way that reverses racial and economic disparities in access to the outdoors, because our public lands belong to all Americans. Some of the protected land in this bill serves densely populated areas of the state that don’t have access to nature, which will help rebalance this historic disparity.”

“Thank you, Representative Chu, for advancing a decades-long vision to protect our San Gabriel Mountains,” saidBelén Bernal, Executive Director of Nature for All Coalition. “Adding lands to the national monument, designating more Wilderness areas, and protecting special rivers as Wild and Scenic are important next steps towards achieving this goal. Over 18 million people live within a 90 mile radius of the San Gabriels and depend on these places for access to nature, time outdoors with family and friends, and tribal rituals and ceremonies, as well as for activities like hiking, swimming, picnicking, and more. We are grateful for your ongoing leadership to ensure that more Angelenos, especially historically underrepresented communities, can enjoy access to these beloved places now and into the future.”

Click here for the full text of the bill.

Click here to view a map of the land that will be impacted.

This bill is cosponsored by Reps. Grace Napolitano (CA-31), Adam Schiff (CA-30), Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), Linda T. Sánchez (CA-38), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Ami Bera (CA-06), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Anna Eshoo (CA-16), John Garamendi (CA-08), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Katie Porter (CA-47), Brad Sherman (CA-32), Eric Swalwell (CA-14), Mark Takano (CA-39), Maxine Waters (CA-43), and Jerrold Nadler (NY-12).

Issues: San Gabriel Mountains

Original source can be found here.