San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Expansion Increases Access For Millions

President Joe Biden announced Thursday he has expanded the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument by nearly 106,000 acres.

The move will ensure that more than 15 million people living within a 90-mile drive of the San Gabriel Mountains will have access to green spaces and open air. It will also protect around 50 rare plants and 300 local species.

The expansion will also ensure that communities of color have greater access to green spaces and nature and protect one-third of L.A. County’s drinking water.

Rudy Ortega, the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians tribal chief, says 25% of enrolled members descend from one of three ancestral villages located in the mountains.

"That's where it brings more value and meaningful to us because of that expansion to preserve and protect the natural setting of those areas,” Ortega said.

The expansion is the largest since former President Barack Obama designated a large swath of the mountain range as a national monument in 2014, but it left more than 100,00 acres of public lands unprotected.

California Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Judy Chu introduced legislation to expand the monument last year, but met roadblocks in a deeply polarized congress. That’s when the Los Angeles duo, along with conservation groups, began urging Biden to use the 1906 Antiquities Act to preserve the pristine mountains east of Los Angeles.

Chu, who represents the San Gabriel Valley, said advocates have been working on the expansion for nearly three decades.

“Los Angeles is amongst the most park poor regions of the country,” she told LAist. “Underserved communities without access to green space miss out on] the proven mental and physical health benefits associated with recreation and the outdoors. That's why I'm so happy that this will make even more land that much more available to everybody in the Los Angeles County area.”

Belén Bernal, executive director for Nature for All, said more people visit the San Gabriel Mountains than the Grand Canyon each year. Bernal said that’s just one of the many reasons to protect the last few open green spaces, especially for vulnerable communities who lack access to those spaces.

“Latinos and other people of color are two times more likely to be deprived of nearby nature than white people,” Bernal said. “The protection of these public lands will help ensure access to nature, improve public health for our community members, and really address the climate and biodiversity crisis.”

Margarita Lopez-Pelayo, the advocacy and organizing manager for Nature For All, said green spaces can be a getaway from pollution and provide access into a whole new world, but navigating those spaces can be intimidating for people of color.

“I took some youth on a hike recently to Eaton Canyon, and one of the youth told me, ‘Wow, I can't hear the traffic. Is this what nature sounds like?’” Lopez-Pelayo said. “And [that’s] something that we live with in the valley, noise pollution.”

The 2014 National Monument designation provided at least $2.3 million in federal funding for more field rangers, visitor engagement positions, and interpreters to the Angeles National Forest. 

While no federal dollars have been announced for the expansion quite yet, the state, philanthropy groups, and business groups have committed more than $3.5 million to preserve and promote equitable access to the national monument. 

Construction on the East Fork of the San Gabriel River is expected to begin later this year, bringing safety and recreational improvements to trails and rivers, as well as bathrooms, parking spots, and picnic tables.

Ortega hoped the expansion will provide local tribes more agency over their ancestral homelands.

“That's something we've been advocating for, and we're hopeful that it does give us some agency to work with the monument and the federal agencies,” Ortega said.