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Along with the designation, the U.S. Forest Service will
dedicate $1 million in educational staff, graffiti removal and
other long-deferred maintenance work, and non-profit foundations
have committed an additional $3.5 million for restoration and
stewardship of mountain areas.
The declaration is being made at the request of Democratic
Representative Judy Chu, whose legislation to protect the area
is stuck in Congress along with other wilderness bills as
Republicans and Democrats feud.
The 540-square-mile (1,400-square-km) section of the Angeles
National Forest to be protected under the order attracts 3
million visitors a year, but graffiti mars the landscape, and
the U.S. Forest Service has little money for signage or even
restroom repair, said Chu, whose district includes part of the
area.
Legislation to protect the mountains has been introduced twice
in Congress, once in 2003, leading to a 10-year-study by the
U.S. Park Service, and then in June 2014, when Chu submitted a
bill to designate them a national recreation area.
After her bill became stuck in a subcommittee, Chu asked Obama
to use his executive authority to declare part of the area a
national monument.
That angered some local officials and many Republicans, who said
it was an end-run around Congress.
Judy Nelson, mayor of the foothill city of Glendora, said naming
the area a national monument instead of a national recreation
area could invoke different environmental protection rules and
might harm businesses.
Obama's declaration will affect only land already designated as
a national forest, and will not include San Bernardino County,
whose governing body voted to oppose the action.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; Editing by
Peter Cooney)
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