WILDERNESS OR PLAYGROUND? VISITOR BEHAVIOR SHOWS STADIUM MENTALITY.

Byline: Diana L. Roemer Staff Writer

A century ago, foresters waxed poetic about the undefiled beauty of the Angeles National Forest: the idyllic peaks of Mount Wilson and Mount Baden-Powell, stands of pines, a clean river.

Now, the backyard wonderland of northern and eastern Los Angeles County is under siege from the 3.5 million people who visit it each year.

Clearly, the Angeles National Forest isn't what it used to be. Trash, traffic, algae-clogged lakes, fire-devastated forests - human beings have a hand in all the mounting problems of the despoiled wilderness.

While money, manpower and other resources are in short supply, U.S. Forest Service officials and environmental groups have plans to start turning it around and create a healthy urban playground with buffer zones between development and the forest.

``If there ever was a national forest in the country that could be managed basically as an adopted forest, it's this one,'' Forest Supervisor Jody Cook said.

But the challenges are great, mainly because Angeles is so heavily used by so many.

In plain terms, visitors are trashing it with plastic bottles, mattresses and dirty diapers; tagging trees and rocks with graffiti; and eroding grounds with their steady march.

``It's like the Rose Parade after everyone leaves,'' said Jerry Sirski, a recreation officer for the San Gabriel River Ranger District.

All told, Forest Service workers pick up 150 to 175 tons of trash per year in San Gabriel Canyon alone.

``We have a stadium mentality. It's a constant cleanup effort,'' said Gail Wright, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.

Then there are the recreationists - hiking, biking, off-roading and hunting on delicate topography.

The impacts trickle down.

Sixteen species of plants, birds and fish are now classified as either threatened or endangered - a situation with widespread implications. If the endangered unarmored three-spined stickleback fish disappears, for example, the worms it feeds on will multiply and the foliage they eat will be impacted.

Fires started by careless visitors and fueled by drought have charred acre upon acre of the forest in the past year, leaving moonscapes in areas such as the Experimental Forest.

Last year, the record-setting Curve and Williams fires, started by candles and a barbecue, respectively, destroyed 60,000 acres - about 10 percent of the forest - and cost $1 million per day to fight.

And officials are worried that the hot summer has set the stage for more damaging fires this fall.

``When you have extreme conditions ... you're going to have what we had last year,'' Cook said.

And the fires that stripped the land of vegetation, allowed debris to wash down and clog waterways, which then flooded.

Last year, floods washed cabins and even parked cars into forks of San Dimas Creek. The cleanup has moved slowly, and mangled cars are still stuck nose-down in the dirt.

``It's a mess up there, that's for sure,'' Cook said.

The slow cleanup is largely a money problem.

Federal funding, about $28 million last year, has flat-lined while pressure on the forest intensifies.

Less money means less manpower and fewer resources, resulting in crumbling infrastructure, trash-ridden grounds and polluted water.

The state budget crisis eliminated funding for a proposed road that would connect state Highway 39 and Angeles Crest (2) Highway, which would form a loop through the forest.

``When a project had to go, it was that road,'' said Caltrans spokesman Ron Kosinski.

The forest's 34 caretakers are vastly outnumbered by thousands of visitors. Thousands more residents make their homes in the foothills abutting the forest. And new developments are pushing ever closer to the forest's edge, both in the San Gabriel and on the north side, in the vicinity of Palmdale and Highway 14.

``The back side is a whole new ballgame. We're concerned, very concerned,'' said Cook, the forest supervisor.

For environmentalists, Angeles National Forest has become an important battle.

More than 90 percent of the forest is not easily accessible to the public and there are still many pristine areas: Groves of yellow ponderosa at Big Cienega Springs; chaparral yucca jutting from the snow in the winters at Upper Tujunga; Lewis Falls cascading into a gorge; lupine, wild mustard and lipstick-red snow plants painting the landscape; great-horned owls, morning doves and white-breasted nuthatches hopping from tree to tree.

Conservationist groups such as the Sierra Club, Free Our Forests and Glendora Mountain Conservancy want to see the degradation reversed, and Cook is determined to enforce recreation-only leases and limit the number of people who live full time in the forest.

In 2002, a 10-year federal plan for reducing wildfire risks was adopted, followed by a plan called the ``Healthy Forests Initiative.''

President George W. Bush has said the government needs to do more to eliminate the cause of wildfires, meaning dry brush, which he believes can be thinned by controlled fires and cutting. Last year, 7.2 million acres of forest burned nationwide.

Critics say Bush could not care less about the environment - that he wants to throw a bone to the timber industry.

Bush also has called for privatizing most of the U.S. Forest's work force, angering union officials who could lose jobs to the private sector.

``They're looking at ... just about anybody that does anything in the forest service,'' said Dan Duefrene, president of the union that covers all of California's forest workers.

But if the forest is going to live up to the poetic descriptions of centuries past, and resist privatization, which some say would help it, U.S. Forest officials and environmentalists are going to have to turn things around.

Diana L. Roemer, [phone], Ext. 2105

diana.roemer(at)sgvn.com