Expansion of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Approved

Last week, President Biden took action to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, which President Obama designated in 2014. The proclamation adds 105,919 acres of U.S. Forest Service lands to the south and west of the Monument’s 346,177 acres, protects additional cultural, scientific, and historic objects, and expands access to outdoor recreation on public lands.

The lands added to the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument contain unique cultural, geological, and ecological resources. A diversity of animals, birds, reptiles, and other wildlife, including numerous sensitive, threatened, and endangered species, live among the unique geological and ecological features of the area, including its unusual canyons, chaparral and coastal sage scrub lands, riparian woodlands, and conifer forests. These lands are also homes to some of California’s most imperiled and iconic birds, including the endangered California condor. The area includes key habitats that support wetland-dependent plant species, sensitive fish and amphibians, and migration corridors. In addition, the area is geologically significant, with the landscape of the San Gabriel Mountains shaped by massive geologic forces over hundreds of millions of years.

As reported by Alex Wigglesworth, this expansion has been widely praised by the Indigenous leaders, politicians, conservationists, and community organizers who had long fought for the enlargement of the protected natural area which serves as the backyard of the Los Angeles Basin. The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is within an hour’s drive of 18 million people.

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