With the House of Representatives leaderless and legislation going nowhere, supporters of a bill to expand the 346,177-acre San Gabriel Mountains National Monument by one-third are looking to the White House.
On Oct. 10, the ninth anniversary of the day the monument was designated by then-President Barack Obama, supporters stepped up their game. The effort to convince President Joe Biden to use his powers to add acreage to the southwestern part of the national monument now includes support from 55 elected officials and the cities of Alhambra, Monterey Park, Santa Clarita, and South Pasadena, which have passed resolutions in support.
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla are asking Biden to use the Antiquities Act of 1906 that grants the power of the Executive Branch to preserve national lands through a presidential proclamation. They want the president to add 109,167 of federal forest land to the monument. The act would prevent new roads or mining on the protected land, preserving it for habitat and recreation.
“I hope that President Biden will recognize the importance of these lands by designating the western Angeles National Forest aspart of the National Monument,” wrote Chu in a prepared statement.
Belén Bernal, executive director of Nature for All, one of the groups supporting the expansion and working to improve recreation in the monument, said supporters have backing from the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
“They want to see this happen,” she said on Thursday, Oct. 12. “They are happy to see such strong support at the local level.”
Just before Obama came to the San Gabriel Valley to sign the proclamation nine years ago, some of the most historic, and most-used trails in the southwestern part of the Angeles National Forest were removed from the monument map — to the dismay of Chu and others.
Many today say Biden should complete the vision for a monument that protects antiquities in the forest which were…
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