City Officials: Water Supply, Land Control May Be Impacted in National Recreation Area Proposal

While federal legislation to protect more than 1,000 square miles of the San Gabriel Valley National Recreation Area, including the foothills, Puente Hills, and San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers, has yet to be written, numerous stakeholders and local government leaders expressed concerns about proposed legislation that would grant the National Park Service power to manage portions of this land.

Community members flooded a San Dimas City Council meeting last week with concerns that federal government would block off portions of the river and limit water supplies to surrounding foothill communities in and around the Angeles National Forest.

Glendora City Councilmember Judy Nelson spoke during the meeting addressing local water and land restrictions.

“If the National Recreation Area designation results in a reduction of water flow and water capture, we will have to purchase more expensive imported water to meet our needs - and hope that water is available for purchase when we need it,” said Nelson.

Ninety-five percent of local water comes from the San Gabriel Mountains, with 75 percent of Glendora’s water supply coming from that source, said Nelson.

“Although we are assured that [land restrictions] will have no impact, we know that things can change over time. Will certain types of building, business and recreation uses eventually be regulated out of this area?” she said.

Nelson said the proposal also raised flood control and fire maintenance issues.

A more scaled down version of the National Recreation Area by the  U.S. Department of Interior and National Park Service, included in the final San Gabriel Watershed and Mountains Special Resource Study, advocates an National Recreation of only about 50,000 acres, one-tenth the size initially proposed that encompassed nearly the entire Angeles National.

According to Nelson, Glendora city officials drafted its own points of concern over the proposed legislation, including:

• Local control is not disrupted or usurped

• The management of the San Gabriel NRA is not under the umbrella of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

• The “Partnership” governance body be made up of at least half of the local government entities which lie within the designated geographic boundaries of the San Gabriel National Recreation Area, including Glendora, Claremont and La Verne.

• The legislation creating or enabling a San Gabriel NRA does not include any other federal designation, such as “Wild and Scenic” or “Wilderness”, until those have been fully studied and processed in accordance with noticing and gathering public input.

• Local government representatives participate actively in drafting the legislation that will be submitted for Congressional consideration

• The geographic boundaries are carefully considered given the diversity of management issues that exist in this region. A possible solution would be to write the legislation in phases; one for the mountainous area and another for the urban area.

Nelson encouraged community members in the San Gabriel Valley area to contact their city council representatives with questions or to offer input on the legislation. They can also contact Rep. Judy Chu, who will present the legislation to Congress, at (626) 304 0110.