Access

 

• Improved access on the San Gabriel River. Improved amenities and bilingual signage.
• Better access improves people's opinions.
• Need good transportation - has to be easier to get to the forest.
• Improved recreational opportunities and access are needed.
• Connectivity (Rim of the Valley) is a big issue and development within the urban/wild interface. San Gabriel and Verdugo Mountains - connectivity losses, fear of the losses.
• Very important to have good access from urban areas.

• Public transportation system offered. Shuttle Bus, particularly heavily used areas. ADA accessible.
• Keep area open to public, not closed.
• Access to trails and public transit should be improved.
• NRA to better connect with urban residents and those in park poor regions. Transit-to-trails programs.
• Programs to increase access from urban areas to mountains.
• Educational field trips plus transportation/access.
• Increase bicycle/pedestrian uses and access.
• Prefers Alt A - preserve largest area; NPS provide increased safety; also increased educational opportunities in flat lands; limit back country access by cars - i.e. shuttle service, etc. to reduce automobiles.

• Connect urban communities in the San Gabriel valley to the San Gabriel Mountains - through trails, transit, and more access points.
• Possibly use a voluntary donation system like what you see at some interpretative association sites in national parks instead of mandatory use fees. Concerned that fees would prevent many, especially low income people, from being able to use the NRA.
• There are park poor areas in northern Orange County.
• Better access to water/watershed trails - safety.
• Accessibility is important because it is close to so many.
• Public access and prescriptive easements - should be allowed in NRA.
• Preserve recreational opportunities and make accessible.
• The ANF gets more use in a month than other USFS mountain areas in a year.
• Linking into urban communities is an important element - bring nature to schools and urban areas.
• Education: school groups are not able to use central area of the San Gabriel because of lack of bus parking and narrow road access. Need road access for buses close to geology and plants.
• Limited parking - need more and better parking.
• Focus on the underserved, multi-lingual residents who are without access to local rivers and natural spaces. NPS can make these resources more inviting and accessible.

• Access should not be limited for various recreation/user groups; retain existing uses. No exclusion for recreation use in existing areas. I expressed that I do not want to see any current user community excluded from access to the ANF. If given a poll most people will say they want more wilderness but most do not know that many user communities will be excluded when wilderness designation is granted. Basically I don't want to see this as a slippery slope into wilderness designation or some hybrid of limited access like in national parks.
• Need transportation for communities to the mountains. Transit to trails. SAMO shuttle example.
• Adjacent benefit of proximity to large population.
• Would the forest become more accessible to the public?
• There are limited opportunities to gain access to the San Gabriel Mountains and other natural areas. The acreage seems like a lot, but the terrain is rugged and there are only so many points of egress.
• The proposal should address transportation services for access to federally-managed public lands. Such a program would benefit public health in surrounding communities.
• Communities that surround the San Gabriel Mountains should have equal access. Provide shuttle service and alternative transit options for diverse communities.
• Reason for NRA is to provide infrastructure to support larger visitors/audience- very important to develop trails, transit access, and innovative public/private concessions along parkways.
• The Angeles National Forest should be accessible to the urban communities, especially since many of the forest users came from the southeast communities of Maywood, Cudahy, and Bell, among others. There was also a general concern for improved services for current and future forest users. This would include enhanced access.
• We need a transportation system to bring people from the cities into the forest.
• Concern about Alternative C. Does an increase in access mean organizations will be less accessible to the local communities? I don't want to see this.
• Providing transportation for urban residents and children to the forest is key to all of the alternatives.
• Transportation services to allow accessibility to the forest should be part of ongoing programming. Several residents don't live close and sometimes do not have adequate transportation to get to the forest.

• Important to connect urban residents to tributary corridors.
• Significance doesn't recognize proximity to so many people. Without adequate access, "it's there, but it's not there."
• Likes the Map (area) in Alternative A because it includes west side of mountains; Alternative C doesn't include the north slope, but likes the NPS management component in the alternative.
• Have condors in the area; coordination with Ventana Wilderness; would like a condor viewing area
• Would like improved access to the forest and picnic areas
• Campgrounds have been closed; the forest needs funding for this.
• Would like a combination of the map in Alternative A (include all of the San Gabriel Mountains) the management and funding structures of Alternative C make the most sense
• How would this affect the NEPA process? Could it speed it up?
• Would like to maintain recreation access for a variety of user groups
• Would like more funding
• Access opportunities among the 3 alternatives involve 3 different levels of participation. Alternative A reaches all the way to Palmdale.
• There is lack of access from the communities between Santa Clarita and Palmdale to the forest. Trails are mostly on fire roads and they are poorly maintained.
• Would like more accessibility - more access points into the forest, more connections from urban communities to forest / recreation.
• Want to make sure recreational users are not shut out - keep areas open. Hang gliding, mountain biking, hunting, etc.

• Want to make sure that access from this area (desert) is maintained.
• Need better trail coordination and thought-out systems to features, waterfalls. This side especially needs compared to other side. An equity issue. More staging.

• Make San Gabriel Mountains more welcoming.

• Need to create a more welcoming environment.

• I am also excited that an NRA might further connect our community to the forest and offer healthy, increased recreation for my family. I am a hiker, equestrian, photographer and animal advocate, and the reason I want an NRA is to be able to engage in activities in the out-of-doors with my dogs and horses, and encourage others to do the same.
• Emphasize connecting communities to the NRA; it encourages use.
• The West Coyote Hills in Northwest Orange County absolutely needs to be incorporated into the National Recreation Area that the National Park Service intends to create in Southern California. Making the West Coyote Hills a National Recreation Area is a top priority of the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC). It is a top priority of RMC because the West Coyote Hills is clearly the most valuable and unique inland undeveloped ecosystem remaining in Southern California, and is located right in the heart of heavily urbanized Los Angeles and Orange Counties (where people essentially have only outdoor developed parks containing baseball fields, tennis courts, and so on that they can go to; hardly any outdoor natural open space areas exist anymore in urbanized Southern California).
• I am concerned about the conversion of portions of the Angeles National Forest, specifically that area within the San Gabriel Watershed, to National Park Service lands. The focus of the National Park Service is to preserve the land, restricting private ownership and even usage. Within any national park, a dog owner cannot take their pet on the trails, even leashed. There are wonderful trails within the San Gabriel Watershed. Would those trails now be off-limits to those wanting to take their dogs with them? Whose recreation area would it be?
• I want to protect the San Gabriel Mountains for their spiritual value as well as the social justice concerns of lack of green space and wild nature available to many in the surrounding communities. A special effort should be made to connect surrounding communities to the forest. This effort would include a robust system of trails, parks and public transportation. This system would expand recreational opportunities in park-poor communities outside the forest and improve recreational access to the forest and the San Gabriel River. I would place a huge emphasis on preserving wilderness, especially the wild rivers.
• We could stress that public recreation areas, because they are just as available to the poor as to the rich, help to limit the increasing and ultimately disruptive divisions between them.
• Please recommend that the San Gabriel Mountains be designated as a National Recreation Area. The people of the surrounding areas just below the mountains and of the L.A. Basin as a whole really need the greater opportunity to connect with nature that this will afford. For our spiritual, psychological, and ecological well-being we need more access to the renewing qualities that such natural habitats provide us.
• Recreational areas outside of the National Forest need to be provided for the extremely large number of people who live in the surrounding areas.
• Nothing addressed the infamous fee the forest service charges, which hits hardest the people least able to afford fees and most in need of recreational space. This fee was supposed to be temporary, has accomplished exactly nothing in terms of improving the forest experience for anyone but the bureaucrats, and should be eliminated.
• Alternative B provides for interconnectedness of existing disparate areas of the watershed, allowing for closer access for and education of diverse urban populations. However, inclusion of large portions of the San Gabriel Mountains leaves management of those resources to the USFS; it does not change accessibility of the mountains for this population.
• The selfish hiker in me likes the emphasis on trails and access in Plan A, the environmentalist in me likes the habitat and historic resource protection of Plan B along with its educational emphasis, and the pragmatist in me likes the management and funding proposals of Plan C. One thing I noticed is the absence of any transportation planning. Some kind of shuttle services, like those in the Santa Monica Mountains, need to be considered. Most of the mountain areas are served by 2 lane roadways that are very vulnerable to damage from natural forces, and excess traffic would not improve matters. Once upon a time, electric railcars brought visitors to the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. Can we connect access points in this area into the local public transportation network?
• I support Draft Alt. Concept C San Gabriel Watershed National Recreation Area This plan expands access to San Gabriel River based recreational opportunities for 5 million urban weary residents. In park poor towns like La Habra, regional recreational linkages are crucial to improving our quality of life.
• Not only would this alternative offer wildlife protection through greater connectivity but it would create much needed nearby wilderness-park recreational opportunities for residents throughout the greater Los Angeles basin. This particular place in America offers the NPS a unique opportunity to create something new, something needed and something important. It will be more difficult logistically, financially and I'm certain politically, but most really important ideas usually do require extra effort.
• Increase support and reopen closed recreational areas.
• Any efforts to add or increase federal agency jurisdiction or to expand recreational activities in the San Gabriel River watershed will pose a threat to the water supply upon which millions of residents and businesses, from Azusa to Long Beach, are heavily reliant.
• We are concerned that the implementation of one of the three proposals that have been discussed might put National Park Service Regulations into effect in the San Gabriel Mountains. Since 36 C.F.R. § 2.17(a) prohibits aviation in National Parks and National Recreation Areas, such a result would effectively outlaw hang gliding and paragliding in the San Gabriel Mountains, where it has been practiced for nearly four decades . We are sure that no one intends such a result, and we request that you assure us that it will not occur inadvertently.
• The NPS would bring the resources and protection that would assure that the watershed would be maintained in perpetuity. The NPS has the resources and expertise to coordinate educational and interpretive activities for the park poor, densely populated, multicultural communities of the lower watershed. The Lower San Gabriel Watershed is extremely park poor and has little or no opportunities for youth and adults to learn about our special ecosystems, like Coyote Hills and Cerritos Wetlands, and be able to enjoy recreation that the river could provide.
• To people of faith, the San Gabriel Mountains are not only important because of their spiritual value. The San Gabriel Mountains are important because they represent a social injustice in Los Angeles, with an increase in underserved communities visiting the rivers and mountains, and a decrease in resources provided. The Draft Report should detail how a SGM NRA could improve recreational conditions along the San Gabriel River, a gateway for thousands of working-class Latino families who visit the river's East and West Forks each year. Basic facilities such as restrooms, access trails to the river, picnic sites, interpretative signs and rangers who speak Spanish would improve the quality and safety of the visitor. An NRA should include a transit to trails program, especially to enable people from park poor communities improved access San Gabriel Mountains recreational opportunities. It should also address linking public transportation to the Gold Line. There should be bus service along Angeles Crest Highway and Highway 39 on weekends to enhance access, air quality, and the visitor experience.
• The San Gabriel plan should implement a Transit to Trails program to take inner city children on fun, educational and healthy trips to mountains, beaches, rivers and other natural green space throughout the nation, for no or low cost. Transit to Trails should enrich their education about land, water, wildlife, and cultural history, and the importance of physical activity and healthy eating for life-long health. Although the inner city children on Transit to Trails trips in Los Angeles live only an hour from the mountains and beaches, many have never been there, because parents often work two or more jobs, and do not have access to cars or to information to plan trips. We are diversifying access to and support for mountains, beaches, and rivers -- and having fun doing it! A national Transit to Trails program would serve all people, but would be particularly useful to the working poor with limited or no access to cars. Transit to Trails provides choices to people who have none. Transit to Trails would help reduce traffic congestion and parking problems, improve air quality, and reduce run-off of polluted water into rivers and the ocean. It would also help reduce dependency on the automobile and fossil fuels. Diversifying access is important to build support for parks and green space in urban and rural areas. National park attendance has eroded for years. The number of annual visitors to Yosemite has dropped 20 percent since 1996. Overnight park stays in particular have declined. California is a "majority- minority" state, but park attendance does not reflect the demographics of the state and has not expanded enough among seniors, foreign tourists, and non- Hispanic white families. The Angeles National Forest provides 78% of the public space in the Los Angeles region, and lies within an hour's drive of most of Los Angeles, but few people of color go there. Recreation is the predominant use of the forests in Southern California. Yet only 1% of the visitors to the forest are black, and only 11% are Hispanic. Zero percent of the visitors to the wilderness areas of the Angeles National Forest are black. Transit to Trails will diversify access to and support for the national parks and national forests, and create the environmental stewards of tomorrow. The San Gabriel plan should develop Transit to Trails standards to measure progress and equity and hold public officials accountable, including most importantly the number of children served by Transit to Trails trips and overnight camping stays, and the quality of the educational materials on the environment, cultural history, active recreation, and healthy eating distributed as part of the program. Proactively Complying with Equal Justice Laws The San Gabriel plan should affirmatively address proactive compliance with equal justice laws. This includes promoting equal justice by federal agencies such as NPS, and by recipients of federal funds such as the state of California or private organizations involved in the process. Unfair inequities exist in the distribution of environmental benefits, including green space, and environmental burdens, including toxic sites, between less affluent and disadvantaged communities, and between communities of color and non-Hispanic whites. These trends have been documented across the nation and in California. The California legislature explicitly recognized the need to address disparities in green space when it enacted legislative criteria for investing park funds in park poor (less than three acres of parks per thousand residents) and income poor communities (below $48,000 median household income). Nationally, there are disparities in access to safe places to play based on race, ethnicity, income, and poverty. While 87% of non-Hispanic respondents reported that "there are safe places for children to play" in their neighborhood, only 68% of Hispanics, 71% of African Americans, and 81% of Asians agreed, according to the Census Bureau survey "A Child's Day." Almost half (48%) of Hispanic children under 18 in central cities were kept inside as much as possible because their neighborhoods were perceived as dangerous. The same was true for more than 39% of black children, 25% of non-Hispanic white children, and 24% of Asian children. Non-Hispanic White children and youth were most likely to participate in after school sports, with Hispanic children and children in poverty least likely. Children involved in sports and extracurricular activities tend to score higher on standardized tests and are less likely to engage in antisocial behavior. Parks and recreation programs should serve the diverse needs of diverse users. Numerous studies document how people attach different values to green space and use green space differently, both in urban and non-urban contexts.
• An NRA for the San Gabriel Mountains and watershed should not only improve recreation sites, but enable and encourage people to use them. An NRA could provide the bilingual rangers, signs and interpretation that the Forest Service has lacked the resources to offer. A system of parks and trails - plus better access by public transportation - would help get more people outdoors.
• The Angeles National Forest is one of the top three most heavily visited recreational forests in the United States and it is located next to the nation's second largest urban population. Despite growing recreational needs, the ability of the Forest Service to support forest visitors is actually declining. The Angeles Forest spends only about one dollar per visitor on law enforcement, educational materials, interpretive services, and visitor center management. The Station Fire, the largest in the history of the Angeles National Forest, has exacerbated this shortage of recreational opportunities and funds for public services. Outside of the forest our region's youth obesity and diabetes crisis is growing, bringing new urgency to connecting our people and communities back to our mountains and rivers. The San Gabriel Watershed and Mountains Special Resource Study could be a game changer, offering new solutions to meet these challenges. The new alternative would also include the San Gabriel Valley communities south of the Angeles National Forest that are in the watershed study area, including Azusa, El Monte and many others. This would facilitate planning for and funding of innovate programs to connect often park poor communities with the recreational resources of the San Gabriel Mountains, which we believe could get more kids outdoors and begin to address our growing southern California obesity and diabetes crisis. An NRA should include a robust transit to trails program that would enable people from park-poor communities improved access to San Gabriel Mountain recreational opportunities. It should also address linking public transportation into the mountains to the Gold Line. There should be bus service along Angeles Crest Highway and Highway 39 on weekends to enhance access, air quality, and the visitor experience. An NRA proposal should detail how it will better connect communities to the forest through a system of parks and trails. Where might they be built? What are possible routes? Detail how communities and recreational users could benefit. The draft report should recognize the degree that communities within the study area are park poor and how they could benefit from a national recreation area.
• TPL supports the creation of a National Recreation Area (NRA), but would like to see a larger area encompassed within an NRA than is proposed in any of the alternatives. The establishment of an NRA over the entire study area would afford greater protection for the natural, cultural, and recreational resources that are recognized as nationally significant. Additionally, by encompassing the many communities within the study area, the NRA will generate improved access to outdoor recreation for the area's underserved populations, an important consideration given Secretary Salazar's renewed emphasis on outdoor recreation for young people.
• The Task Force believes that the development of a National Recreational Area (NRA) would provide a much needed recreational/educational resource for the large urbanized population of the Los Angeles region. The mountains and rivers currently experience very heavy use, but lack the overall management and funding needed to provide a quality recreational experience or provide protection for nationally significant areas with their biological resources. The following elements should also be included in the stated purposes of the NRA: improving access to the San Gabriel Mountains through robust trail and public transportation systems to encourage public visitation, providing more recreational opportunities in park-poor communities outside the forest and improve recreational access through new hiking and biking trails as a way into the forest, expanding selected parking space to provide safe access to areas along the mountain roads, and developing an integrated network of trails connecting the rivers with the adjacent communities that lack adequate parks and from the rivers to the natural environment of the mountains.
• The inclusion of the Puente-Chino Hills would also allow the completion of a trail network that would run n north from Cleveland National Forest, through the Puente-Chino Hills, up the San Gabriel River, and connecting to the Angeles National Forest. This system of trails and parks would provide recreational opportunities to the park-poor communities which lie along the trails and within the NRA.
• The vision of the National Recreation Area would be to expand and protect the interconnected system of parks, habitats, and open spaces, connecting urban neighborhoods, mountains, and rivers within a broader ecosystem. Coordinated education and interpretation focuses on connecting people to the special resources and stories of their mountains and watershed. Access to recreational opportunities closer to home is increase and enhanced. Including the Angeles National Forest and the Puente Hills recognizes the special character of the San Gabriel Mountains and the associated foothills and hills in our region as a collection of nationally significant resources, a habitat connector, and an urban recreation area. Public awareness and appreciation of the mountains will be elevated through the increased and improved recreation, education and access.
• The National Park Service should best spend its energies developing recreational opportunities in the watershed below (South of) the San Gabriel Mountains. In these times of the need for energy conservation it just seems logical to develop opportunities for the general public to recreate on or near the water of the San Gabriel Mountain tributaries near their homes.
• With the huge population of Los Angeles County, there never can be enough "wild" areas for all of its citizens.
• The Alternative Maps should include the entire San Gabriel watershed. West Coyote Hills is mapped as part of the Chino-Puente Hills Important Bird Area, and all of the remaining open space there deserves protection as a natural area with access. Other remaining open spaces in the lower watershed are also important to preserve as natural areas, such as Montebello Hills. Coyote Creek should be restored to a natural condition as much as possible.
• There is little in the way of access or interpretive resources.
• Create a "friends of the park" for those who use it on a regular basis. You'd be amazed at how easy it would be to get support from loyal users.
• The Los Angeles area is one largest populated areas in the United States and yet we have fewer parks and recreation areas than almost any other large city. These mountains are one of the very few places that we can go to get away from the traffic, the crowds and the noise we are faced to live with, day in and day out. I go there to be alone, to rest my spirit, to enjoy the beauty of nature and to watch and listen to the wildlife. Our parks and beaches are terribly crowded, take a long time to get too and mean that we have to fight yet more cars and crowds to enjoy a change of pace from our daily life.
• I have always been struck by the diversity of the visitors I see up there; a real cross-section of the surrounding cities that I never witness in other of the more natural parks or wilderness areas. It is so important that this area is preserved and managed in such a way that it can be a vital link between the L.A./So Cal sprawl and nature.
• This is especially important in a metropolitan region such as ours where many urban areas are lacking in recreational resources and are "park poor." With new and improving public transit options, the nearby mountain areas will be able to provide much needed recreational opportunities for large and growing segments of the population. One need only look to the history of our region to find photographs of the many Southern Californians who years ago rode street cars up to Mt. Lowe and other mountain area destinations. Adult obesity is also growing (no pun intended!) We must have attractive nearby alternatives for couch potatoes and those wedding to their computers.
• This beautiful region is unique in many ways, from its large size and very close proximity to a huge population, giving the people the opportunity for nature R&R near their homes, protecting wildlife, acting as natural air and water filters, and much more. We owe it to ourselves and our children to protect this gem next to our homes!
• Our region's youth obesity and diabetes crisis has brought new urgency to connecting our people and communities back to our mountains and rivers. I want to protect the San Gabriel Mountains for their spiritual values as well as the social justice concerns that surround the inequities in resources provided for the communities that visit these mountains. The NRA should make a major effort to connect surrounding communities to the forest. This effort would include a robust system of trails, parks and public transportation. This system would expand recreational opportunities in park-poor communities outside the forest and improve recreational access to the forest and the San Gabriel River.
• I am intimately aware of the significant and growing levels of interest among Los Angelenos in making use of their access to these remarkably still-wild mountains and canyons. I also see the impact of the lack of care and services which are needed to cope with this increasing use, and would strongly recommend that any management plan specifically conserve the mountains in their most natural state, while at the same time making provisions for their safe access and use.

• The San Gabriel Mountains provide over 70 percent of the public open space in Los Angeles County, and the Angeles National Forest is one of the top three most heavily used recreational forests in the United States. These natural landscapes are a refuge from the urban surroundings in this region, providing a place where residents and visitors can retreat to hike, ride mountain bikes, and otherwise enjoy the tranquility of nature. These areas also provide clean air and water, creating a healthier environment for residents of the San Gabriel Valley. We are pleased that all three alternatives would provide a more coordinated mechanism for managing these resources and enhance public access and recreational opportunities. We envision a network of green spaces linking urban neighborhoods, mountains, and rivers within a broader ecosystem. An ecosystem-scale approach will not only help ensure the comprehensive management of the natural resources in this area, but also provide the residents of the San Gabriel Valley with increased recreational opportunities and a stronger connection to their mountains and watershed.
• The San Gabriel Mountains provide access to open space lands for millions of people living in Los Angeles County. The Department of Fish and Game is required to obtain information about wildlife and fish populations prior to allowing their consumptive use in order to insure sustainability of the resource. Also, the Department is required to assess sensitive resources to determine species status. The Department is concerned that National Park Policy, as part of a San Gabriel Watershed and Mountains Recreation Area could limit our opportunities to freely access, monitor, and manage wildlife populations where mechanized travel is necessary to facilitate these conservation objectives.
• I recommend that a San Gabriel Mountains National Recreation Area ensure that the various communities south of the San Gabriels in the watershed study are to be included in an NRA. This will help address the park inequities that plague our communities and the possible creation of a local urban park network interconnected by trails and bikeways with the San Gabriel Mountains. I recommend that a San Gabriel Mountains National Recreation Area identify a way to create a program that provides transit opportunities for those without transportation access, especially in park poor communities.
• Every effort must be made to force Cal Trans to finish the repairs on State Route 39 up to but not beyond Crystal Lake. Reopening Route 39 to Crystal Lake will make hundreds of campsites available and take the pressure off the lower San Gabriel Canyon.
• I have great hopes that this process will result in providing more recreational opportunities for the enormous population of Los Angeles--we need this!
• An even better concept would be to make a larger NRA that combines Alt A and Alt C, with the management plan proposed in Alt C. This would provide more recreational opportunities to a much larger and diverse population areas.
• I think "B" is good, and probably the best of the 3. I believe that improving access to natural areas in urban settings it very important to fostering a desire to explore and protect areas beyond our local neighborhoods. Having a linked network of parks is a great idea and will foster an appreciation of our natural diversity without requiring a lot of driving. Option "B" does just that, while also addressing our more remote locations up in the mountains.

 

• The NRA should make a major effort to connect surrounding communities to the forest. This effort would include a robust system of trails, parks and public transportation. This system would expand recreational opportunities in park-poor communities outside the forest and improve recreational access to the forest and the San Gabriel River.

• A NRA should include a major effort to connect surrounding communities to the forest. This effort would include a robust system of trails, parks and public transportation.
• I  know that improving trail access and recreation access runs counter to the goals of critical habitat preservation. There are many miles of trails in the San Gabriel Mountains already; the more trails there are, the more human encroachment occurs in wilderness areas; the more habituated large carnivores become to human presence; the less true wilderness is preserved.

• Creating a National Recreation Area along Acton's entire southern boundary (as proposed in Alternative Concept "A") raises many concerns for the community of Acton, not the least of which is that it will expand access opportunities into and through our community from urban core areas. This will certainly increase traffic, noise, and congestion within our community, and create other substantial problems which always attend such impacts.
• I like Alternative C because that is where a large population is present without driving a great distance.
• I like Alternative B. It allows for more open space, plant protection, and recreational opportunities in neighborhoods.