Protect the San Gabriel Mountains

Please sign and share this petition in an effort to get the White House to support a bill Senator Chu to encourage protection of the San Gabriel Mountains and declare these majestic mountains a national monument. Such protection will help in building new resources for the parks in the area along with trail upkeep and trash removal.

Local Congresswoman, Judy Chu asked President Obama to declare 600,000 acres of the San Gabriel Mountains a national monument, a unilateral action that would bypass Congressional approval. Rep. Chu announced in a news conference Monday that she has had discussions with the White House to act alone and do essentially what her bill proposes, to add more federal resources to the heavily-used Angeles and San Bernardino national forests for better recreation, trail upkeep and trash removal. She asked her supporters to put pressure on the White House to support a San Gabriel Mountains National Monument designation, saying “let’s call upon the administration to act and help us finally turn this vision into reality.”

This issue has been studied for months and we need to strongly urge the President to declare the Angeles National Forest a national monument. “We’ve pitched it to the Obama Administration. They are positively inclined,” Chu said. She authored the San Gabriel National Recreation Area Act, which is sitting in the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. However, it is believe that the bill she proposes will take years to get to the floor for a vote and needs support in passing in favor of preserving the mountains and improving their aesthetics.

This is a beautiful scope of nature that needs to be deemed a national monument and we need to support the efforts of Congresswoman Chu. A San Gabriel Mountain National Monument would protect the wild portions of the San Gabriel River, which supplies one-third of the county’s drinking water, according to the group. It would also preserve natural areas and threatened species such as the Nelson’s big horn sheep and the mountain yellow-legged frog. So far, Obama has established 11 national monuments, the last one was the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in south-central New Mexico, established on May 21. While 16 presidents have named national monuments since the law was written in 1906, the action could be viewed as controversial.

If the president were to declare a national monument, “the administration would seek as best it can to immediately enhance resources. We need to support these efforts to declare the San Gabriel Mountains a national monument with special resources to keep it clean and beautiful for visitors and its wildlife residents! Please sign and share this petition in an effort to get the White House to support a bill Senator Chu to encourage protection of the San Gabriel Mountains and declare these majestic mountains a national monument. Such protection will help in building new resources for the parks in the area along with trail upkeep and trash removal.