The US Forest Service has completed a draft plan for managing the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, up in the mountains behind Monrovia, which proposes using shuttle buses to help people access the area.
The report ( http://goo.gl/yzsc1M ) gives me the impression that the Forest Service would like to reduce the number of cars in the mountains, since it proposes adding, "alternative means of transportation, including shuttle bus service connecting surrounding communities and public transportation hubs." Also, it adds that, "Positive changes to the system could involve the removal of unnecessary roads..." From page 132 of the plan.
Comment: I dunno. This proposal could be completely reasonable and simply a matter of good traffic control, but I have had a growing sense over the past eight or ten years that the Forest Service wants to severely reduce the number of places within wilderness areas where people are allowed to go and just put them on a few footpaths that go in a short loop from a few parking lots. I hope I'm wrong.
Additional information here: http://goo.gl/KmvRcH
- Brad Haugaard
Have you ever been to Chantry Flats on a weekend? Literally miles of cars parked from the top down. People love to get out in our mountains and we need to figure out better ways to get them to the trails.
ReplyDeletePeople make trouble for USFS when they go into "monuments", which are supposed to be untouched by human activity.
ReplyDeleteThe first step is to control access, the next step is to ration it downwards so people don't offend nature so much, commercial logging is ended (not that we have that issue) and other human intrusions are limited.
Of course, eliminating roads and human presence allows more and thicker growth of brush, etc. so when it burns, it really burns well and fire fighters can't get in. Ah, Mother Nature...