TRAIL MIGHT ACCESS CLIMBER ROCK SITE PUBLIC ASKED FOR OPINIONS.Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST The Angeles National Forest (ANF) was established by executive order on December 20, 1892 as the San Gabriel Timberland Reserve. It covers over 2,600 km² (650,000 acres) and is located in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, just north of the metropolitan area of Los -- The U.S. Forest Service is seeking public comment on a proposal to create a trail to provide access to the popular rock-climbing Williamson Rock area, closed in 2005 to protect an endangered frog. A six-mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (also known as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail) is a long-distance mountain hiking and equestrian trail that runs from the United States border with Mexico to its border with Canada and follows the highest portion of the Sierra Nevada and and about 1,000 acres around Williamson Rock have been closed since December 2005. "This proposal is to provide access from Angeles Crest Highway The Angeles Crest Highway is a two-lane (one lane of travel in each direction) segment of California State Route 2 in the United States. The road is 66 miles in length, with its western terminus at the intersection at Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge and its eastern to this popular recreation site," Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Peterson said. "There had been user-created access, but unfortunately people were crossing Little Rock Creek Rock Creek may refer to:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in October 2006 designated about 615 acres along Little Rock Creek within the closed area as critical habitat for the frog. Two or 3 inches long, its top side mottled mottled /mot·tled/ (mot´ld) marked by spots or blotches of different colors or shades. with blotches that are usually yellow and brown, the mountain yellow-legged frog was the most common found in the San Gabriel Mountains San Gabriel Mountains, S Calif., E and NE of Los Angeles, running c.50 mi (80 km) westward from Cajon Pass. San Antonio Peak (10,080 ft/3,072 m) is the highest of the range. Citrus fruits are raised on the southern foothills. before 1970. Now, researchers believe, it is limited to fewer than 200 frogs in the upper reaches of eight Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, streams. Among those is shallow, rocky upper Little Rock Creek, which is paralleled and crossed by hundreds of hikers along the popular Pacific Crest Trail. The other San Gabriel Mountain streams where the frog survives are all in remote wilderness areas, officials said. An unofficial trail created by climbers also follows the creek on the way to Williamson Rock. The granite outcropping in the upper reaches of Little Rock Creek has been used by climbers since the 1960s and is among the more popular rock-climbing spots in the San Gabriel Mountains. "To protect the frog we initiated a temporary closure of the area while consulting with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and also developing proposals to provide access for rock climbers to get to the rock while at the same time protecting the frog," Peterson said. The closure in 2005 followed a 2004 lawsuit by an environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity The Center for Biological Diversity combines conservation biology with litigation, policy advocacy, and an innovative strategic vision to secure a future for animals and plants hovering on the brink of extinction, for the wilderness they need to survive, and by extension for the , over the Fish and Wildlife Service's failure to designate "critical" habitat for the frog, which was declared endangered in 2002. What has eliminated the frogs from 99 percent of their former San Gabriel Mountain habitat is not known, but it could include diseases, human activity and non-native predators such as the rainbow trout rainbow trout Species (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of fish in the salmon family (Salmonidae) noted for spectacular leaps and hard fighting when hooked. It has been introduced from western North America to many other countries. , researchers said. People playing in creeks disturb and damage egg masses and stir up sediment that can settle on eggs, killing the embryos, researchers say. People also might step on tadpoles Tadpoles are a psychedelic rock band formed in 1990 in New York City by Todd Parker (guitars/vocals) and Michael Kite Audino (drums.) In 1992, Nick Kramer (guitars/vocals), David Max (bass) and Andrew Jackson (guitars) of the fledgling Manhattan group, Hit, joined the Tadpoles or chase them and frogs to where they are seen by predators. The frogs could also be particularly susceptible to rainbow trout, which were stocked for decades in Little Rock Reservoir and made their way upstream into the mountains. One researcher conducted tests that indicated yellow-legged frog tadpoles avoid native garter snakes, but not non-native rainbow trout. Since 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey has pulled hundreds of trout out of the upper reaches of Little Rock Creek in a bid to determine if the fish are killing the frogs. The results are inconclusive because researchers believe trout remain in the stream. karen.maeshiro@dailynews.com (661) 267-5744 How to help The proposal can be viewed at www.fs.fed.us/r5/angeles. For more information, call (661) 296-9710. Comments on the proposal may be mailed to John F. Capell, District Ranger, Attn: Jonathan Schwartz, Santa Clara/Mojave Rivers Ranger District, 30800 Bouquet Canyon Road, Saugus, CA 91390, no later than June 6. CAPTION(S): box Box: How to help (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion