President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument has been expanded by 105,919 acres, including 86% of the land area in Eaton Canyon. This declaration comes 10 years after President Obama designated much of the northern and eastern San Gabriel Mountains as a National Monument. The designation gives the area additional protections from extractive businesses that the Forest Service would otherwise have more difficulty refusing such as mining, logging, and commercial development. Although the immedient Eaton Canyon area was not facing any of these issues at the moment, the designation prevents those issues from arising in the distant future.
This designation does not impact the County of Los Angeles Parks and Recreation area or Pasadena Water and Power section of Eaton Canyon.
The plan, as claimed by the White House, was a move to help further protect lands most accessible to low-income communities in Southern California. As outlined in this prior MyEatonCanyon.com article, Eaton Canyon is one of the most accessible waterfall hiking trails to millions of Angelinos.
Despite this being a step in the right direction, many issues the Angeles National Forest face are not directly being addressed in the National Monument expansion. The East Fork of the San Gabriel River is still one of the most polluted natural riverbeds located within a National Monument in the United States with obscene levels of litter plaguing the area. The Los Angeles Times has written extensively about the issue here.
The National Monument expansion designation, at least for the moment, does not result in any additional funding for a National Forest that sees higher vistation than either Yosemite or Yellowstone. Millions of Angelinos visit the Angeles National Forest every year, and the high visitation has taken a toll on the natural wilderness. Invasive plant species, climate change, explosive wildfires, litter, and graffiti all negatively impact the forest. It takes jobs and physical labor to protect natural lands, not just designations.
