NPS Report on the San Gabriel River Watershed

Although I am temporarily living in western Kentucky, I expect to be returning to southern California before too long. One of the things I was tangentially involved in back there was following the National Park Service study of the upper San Gabriel River watershed.

Well, finally, the draft report is out.

There's a short AP blurb on the Tribune website, although it suggests the area under study is a "wilderness." Far from it, of course. The study area includes very little statutory wilderness or wilderness study areas. It does include a large chunk of the Angeles National Forest, as well as the Puente Hills (two places I've done a lot of hiking in over the past few years).

The National Park Service newsletter describing the draft report is here.

Locally, a hearings on the draft report are scheduled at a number of different southern California locations, beginning in late October and continuing into November. Scheduled meetings are listed on the last page of the newsletter, which is linked above. There's also a link to the full report (several hundred pages worth of report) on the NPS web page for this study project, here.

I obviously can't attend the hearings personally. Not sure if I'll write up comments. Basically, I'm in favor of any alternative that will bring more resources to managing, improving, and improving access to trails in my old stomping grounds. Various National Recreation Area designations might be the ticket, though I'm open to persuasion on other alternatives.