OFF-ROAD AREA INCREASED FOREST PLAN WOULD PROTECT ADDITIONAL 100,000 ACRES.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST -- A proposal for managing Southern California's four national forests recommends giving 100,000 additional acres wilderness protection while taking into account the growing demand for public recreation.

The plan, released Thursday by the U.S. Forest Service, would give the agency greater control over off-road recreation already going on in the backcountry by increasing the amount of land for legal motorized use by 2 percent, to nearly 1.6 million acres.

The plan would apply to the 3.7 million acres of the Angeles, Cleveland, San Bernardino and Los Padres national forests, which extend from Big Sur almost to the Mexican border. The forests provide Southern Californians a respite from the bustle of the nation's second-largest metropolitan area.

The forests have recently been under siege by a growing number of recreational users, increased urbanization and loss of wildlife habitat. Total visitation approaches 8 million people annually and is expected to grow by 20 percent during the next 15 years.

Tom White, an assistant project leader who helped draw up the proposal, said the blueprint attempts to control the increased use by acknowledging it.

``We're increasing the level of control,'' he said. ``It's moving to a higher level of regulated use, recognizing that use is going to be there.''

Don Amador, California representative of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, an off-road group, said the Forest Service is going in the right direction. But the Sierra Club criticized the Forest Service for a ``very, very disappointing plan.''

``It has missed a great opportunity to permanently protect large areas of the forest for future generations, and it increases activities like off-road vehicle use that the Forest Service recognizes are harmful and can't manage currently,'' said regional representative Bill Corcoran.

Corcoran particularly criticized the amount of acreage recommended for federally designated wilderness protection, noting that the forests are home to 470 biologically fragile species.

About one-third of the forest area, or roughly 1.1 million acres, is protected as federally designated wilderness. There are about an additional million acres without roads that have been deemed eligible for wilderness protection. The management proposal recommends that about one-tenth of that land be protected.

In Angeles National Forest, the plan proposes increasing designated wilderness by more than 14,000 acres of rugged terrain, some more than 10,000 feet in elevation. All the new wilderness would be added to the Sheep Mountain Wilderness, which covers more than 39,000 acres south of Wrightwood.

The plan also recommends trying to thin out forest protected against fires for decades. The plan recommends trying to return the forest to its appearance around 1880 to 1930, when it had a more open appearance with a higher proportion of large trees and less brush and young trees.

Forest Service officials are already planning work this fall to remove brush and thin out smaller trees along Big Pines Highway and around Wrightwood.

Open houses to introduce the plan are scheduled for 3 to 8 p.m. May 26 in Canyon Country at the Santa Clarita Activities Center, 20880 Centre Pointe Parkway, and 3 to 8 p.m. May 27 in Palmdale at the Ramada Inn, 300 W. Palmdale Blvd.

Another open house is also scheduled for 3 to 8 p.m. June 4 at the Wrightwood Community Center, 1275 Angeles Crest Highway.