April 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 52

Amboy
Crater

Bureau of Land

t
Managemen

CA MONUMENTS

Sand to Snow National Monument
Located just east of Los Angeles and
within a two-hour drive for more than
24 million people, the 154,000-acre
Sand to Snow National Monument
offers distinctively diverse topography.
From the Sonoran Desert landscape
to the rugged San Gorgonio Peak at
11,500 feet, visitors to this national
50 Parks & Recreation

monument can immerse themselves
in starkly arid desert and lush forest.
The monument's proximity to the
Los Angeles metropolitan area offers
both opportunities and challenges
for the Forest Service and the BLM,
which will jointly manage it. As urban
centers become dense with residents,
everything from neighborhood pocket parks to protected lands, like the
nearby Sand to Snow National Monument, become essential for main-

Sand to
Snow
Patrick Donnelly, Campaign for the California Desert

The act created Joshua Tree and
Death Valley National Parks as well
as the Mojave National Preserve. The
newest national monuments fill in important landscapes in the California
desert and interconnect with the parks
and preserves created in the 90s.
During the past six years, Sen. Feinstein introduced legislation several
times to create the national monuments but was stymied by congressional inaction. Thousands of supporters, including ranchers, miners, tribal
members, conservationists and desert
recreationists, along with community
leaders and elected officials, advocated
for the monuments with resolutions
before local governments, letters to
the editors, town hall meetings and,
eventually, a letter-writing campaign to
President Obama that resulted in the
creation of the monuments.

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taining the human connection with
nature and the outdoors. Intriguing
historical and cultural sites, rare and
fragile wildlife, and rich biodiversity
are protected by Sand to Snow. In addition, it encompasses 30 miles of the
Pacific Crest Trail (made famous in
Cheryl Strayed's book Wild and the
subsequent movie of the same title,
starring Reese Witherspoon).
" Sand to Snow's peaks and valleys
have long provided physical and spiritual sustenance to native people, "
says U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Vilsack, whose department
manages the Forest Service. " Today,
they are also an inspiration and recreational beacon to millions. We are
honored to ensure the permanent
protection of these cherished places. "
" Visitors have been hiking and
camping in the San Gorgonio's since
the 1920s, which prompted a call
for a national monument as early as
1923, " says John C. Heil III, press officer for the Pacific Southwest Region
of the U.S. Forest Service.
Heil says that, over the years, various forms of protection, ranging from
" primitive " to " wilderness " designations, have been put in place to balance
protection of the resources and the rec-

April 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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