City Cut Off From Its Backyard

There were the Boy Scouts who first learned via television news that their long-planned campout near Mt. Baden-Powell was off because of the abrupt closure last week of the Angeles National Forest.

There was the equestrian who halted her after-work trail ride above Altadena when she spotted a hastily erected U.S. Forest Service sign. And there were all those boaters baffled by the locked gates barring their way to Pyramid Lake off the Golden State Freeway in the northwest reaches of Los Angeles County.

“They’re calling like crazy. People who are at the gates and on their cell phones asking what’s going on, and I imagine that will continue until we can get the signs up,” said Joe Young, who works part time at the Santa Clara/Mojave Rivers Ranger District office near Saugus.

Workers hustled last week to close the sprawling, fire-plagued forest to all recreational use because of the extreme fire hazard resulting from a record drought and a series of summer fires.

“A lot of people don’t even know Pyramid Lake is part of the forest,” Young said.

Shutting down a national forest, especially one as vast and as widely used as the Angeles, is a complicated business. But forest officials decided to halt all recreational use as of noon Tuesday.

The announcement came as about 3,000 firefighters battled the worst of the area’s fires so far this season. It began a week ago in the San Gabriel Mountains above Azusa, near the Williams Camp, consumed nearly 36,000 acres and at least 72 structures and threatened historic Mount Baldy Village and homes in the foothills of Glendora and Claremont.

The Angeles will be closed until the start of significant rains, which could be as late as January or even longer. That means the temporary loss of what officials believe is America’s busiest national forest.

More than 3.5 million people a year use the forest’s 500-plus miles of hiking trails, streams, 66 campgrounds, 36 picnic sites, five large lakes and four ski areas. They ride horses and mountain bikes, go fishing, practice shooting at designated areas, learn about the wilderness at five visitor centers. Motorcycles vie with cars and SUVs on the winding Angeles Crest Highway--State Route 2--on their way to Wrightwood or other mountain vacation spots.

The 656,000-acre forest, which covers much of the San Gabriel Mountains and a separate rugged area across the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, comprises one-fourth of Los Angeles County’s land area and is nearly ringed by suburban communities. That puts it within an hour’s drive of more than 20 million people.

Almost since its establishment as a national forest in December 1892, the Angeles has been known as Los Angeles’ backyard playground.

“There will be a large hole in the recreational opportunities for so many people,” said Clare Marter Kenyon, an activist in Los Angeles’ Mount Washington neighborhood, who said she had hiked in the forest for 30 years. Her favorite trails are the cool and shady Switzer and the isolated Buckhorn.

“I feel sad for all the thousands of people who can’t go up there for a little picnic on Sundays and get away from the urban grind,” she said. But Marter Kenyon, like many regular users of the forest, said she understands the Forest Service’s decision.

Officials said they were following many of the same procedures used in 1993, when they closed the forest after a devastating fire above Altadena and when conditions were similarly dry.

Main roads through the forest remain open--the Angeles Forest and Angeles Crest highways and Big Tujunga, Upper Big Tujunga Canyon, Little Tujunga and Sand Canyon roads, as well as Mt. Wilson Road, but no stopping is allowed along any of them. All Forest Service roads are closed.

Private areas within the forest boundaries, such as the village of Wrightwood, are open. Facilities that operate on special-use permits, such as private campgrounds and Pyramid Lake, are closed and will be evaluated case by case for possible reopening.

“You can drive up to Wrightwood and have lunch, but you can’t stop along the way,” is how forest spokeswoman Gail Wright summed up the situation.

In the adjacent San Bernardino National Forest to the east, officials this week closed part of the Lytle Creek area, which is near the Williams fire.

Officials there also banned campfires in any area of the forest until the fire season ends.

Wright acknowledged that the Forest Service does not have enough rangers to patrol the entire Angeles National Forest. Many of its most popular trails are accessible from the foothills above Pasadena and Sierra Madre and from the highways that traverse its isolated peaks and valleys.

Workers have been posting signs throughout the forest and at trailheads, and they have been informing visitors of the situation. Officials expect most visitors will comply, once they learn the forest is closed. For repeat or flagrant violators, however, the penalties can be stiff--a $5,000 fine, six months in jail or both, Wright said.

“We think most people will attempt to do the right thing. For those who try to get around [the ban], the enforcement people will be out there,” Wright said.

Many seemed resigned to the situation, even as they pined for the forest’s rugged peaks and peaceful glades.

“I’ve disagreed with the Forest Service on many things, called them stupid and bureaucratic,” said attorney Paul R. Ayers, who has sued over damage to Rubio Canyon and led hikes throughout the San Gabriels. “But this is not an unreasonable decision. It is very, very dangerous up there right now, and people have to respect that.

“Nobody can outrun a wildfire,” Ayers said.

At Phiddipides, an Encino store for runners, cancellation of the annual 100-mile “ultra marathon” was a hot topic last week.

“It’s a great run, a beautiful run, very difficult, but with such great scenery you never get bored,” said Mike Dimkich of Woodland Hills.

Tracy Sullivan of Altadena, who loves riding her horses on the forest trails above her home, said the closing poses special problems for the horse owners of her community, who have very few safe areas outside the forest to ride and exercise their animals.

“This is a really sad situation, and it just further amplifies the need for the county to provide safe areas” for riders, Sullivan said, adding that she is “really torn” about the forest closing.

“I love riding in this beautiful area, so close to the city, and yet, when I was up there a couple of weeks ago, I noticed how very dry the brush was, and I thought, this is so dangerous.”

For the Boy Scouts of Troop 103 from Ventura, the closing means a delay, possibly of several months, in their plans to earn the “Five Peaks” patch. The forest’s Mt. Baden-Powell is required hiking for the patch, and the plan was to camp near the base next Saturday night and make the climb Sunday.

“Obviously, we’ve been knocked out of the ring on that, and we had planned it for at least six months,” said a disappointed Assistant Scoutmaster Jerry Boone.

“Maybe, if the rains come early enough, we can still do it before it gets too cold; otherwise, we’ll have to wait and try again in the spring,” said Boone, who had planned the outing with his son, Trevor, 12, and other scouts and troop leaders.

Randy Lawrence of the San Fernando Bike Club and friends who ride mountain bikes canceled a challenging ride planned for next month up the Mt. Wilson toll road and down the Gabrielino Trail.

“We could probably still do it and get away with it, but we won’t. We understand why it’s closed, and we’re going to be good citizens and honor that. It’s disappointing, but the forest is a very valuable asset, and we all need to do what we can to protect it,” Lawrence said.

And a representative of the Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club, which had to cancel a campout and a trail cleanup scheduled for this weekend, said the closing of the Angeles, as frustrating as it is, poses an opportunity to try other wilderness areas in the vicinity.

“We’ve got the Santa Monicas, the Cleveland National Forest, the Los Padres National Forest, the Whittier Hills,” said Bill Corcoran, regional representative for the Sierra Club.

Then, with a little swipe at the Angeles National Forest’s still-controversial decision a few years ago to start charging a $5 fee to use the forest, Corcoran added:

“There are all kinds of places where people can get out and enjoy nature without having to pay five bucks. It’s a good time to explore areas they haven’t seen before.”