California forests are closing fast

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Officials Detail Plans to Close Much of San Bernardino Forest

Outdoors: Most of the mountainous areas in Southern California could
be off limits because of fire danger. Some campsites, picnic areas
will stay open

By SCOTT GOLD, TIMES STAFF WRITER

Federal forest officials laid out detailed plans Thursday for
shutting down much of the San Bernardino National Forest, calling it
a drastic step forced by rare drought conditions and the enormous
threat of wind-swept wildfires.

By the end of next week, virtually all of Southern California's
popular national forests--nearly 2 million acres of soaring peaks,
chaparral and timber stands that provide a mountainous escape from
urban areas--could be shut down or placed under severe restrictions,
officials said.

The closures began last week when the U.S. Forest Service closed the
Angeles National Forest for the first time since 1993 after a raging
wildfire erupted above the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys and
blanketed the region with smoke. Today, federal officials plan to
shut down most of the neighboring San Bernardino National Forest.

Next week, officials will consider implementing similar restrictions
in the Cleveland National Forest, which includes giant chunks of
Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. Authorities there said they
anticipate that restrictions similar to those in the San Bernardino
National Forest will eventually be in place, but they emphasized that
a decision has not been reached.

Even in Los Padres National Forest, farther north, closer to the
coast and more buffered from the drastic conditions in the southern
reaches of the state, officials say they may have to eventually
consider similar closures.

"We're keeping an eye on conditions," said Los Padres spokeswoman
Kathy Good. "We're not there yet. But we could get there."

Regardless of what happens at the Cleveland and Los Padres forests,
officials say, it is an extraordinary year. Several government
measuring sites have detected less precipitation this year than any
year in more than a century, and firefighters say blazes are burning
with particular ferocity this season.

"As an agency, we are profoundly sorry to have to do this. There is
really no other way to say it," Forest Service spokesman Matt Mathes
said of the forest closures.

"We are all recreationists. We think we can understand how people
feel about this. But we are entering into the most dangerous time of
year in Southern California with the Santa Ana winds.... Anything we
can do to reduce the risk of wildfires and protect the public will be
a good move in the long run."

Though the response from mountain residents and outdoors enthusiasts
has been understanding for the most part, San Bernardino National
Forest managers exercised some damage control Thursday by emphasizing
the wilderness spots that will remain open, not those that will close.

Beginning at noon today, officials said, most remote areas of the
671,686-acre forest will be off-limits to hikers, horseback riders,
hunters, mountain bikers and others.

However, the Forest Service said it will allow use of many campsites
and other areas that are near good roads that are easily accessible
to firefighters. Most sites within a quarter-mile of state highways
and county roads will stay open, officials said.

Remaining open in the Big Bear area, for example will be the Big Bear
Discovery Center, the Serrano and Pineknot campgrounds, and the
Meadows Edge, Grout Bay and Aspen Glen picnic areas. At Lake
Arrowhead, the Dogwood Campground and the Baylis, Crest Park and
Switzer picnic areas also will stay open.

Towns will also remain open, so a family planning a weekend at
Idyllwild, for instance, can still access hotels, restaurants and
stores.

Even a handful of paths and trails--those near heavily populated
areas and good roads--will still be accessible.

The Woodland Trail in Big Bear, the Rock Camp Trail at Lake Arrowhead
and the famed Ernie Maxwell Trail in Idyllwild will remain open,
officials said. So will the Lytle Creek Shooting Area.

But as for a long wilderness hike through the national
forest, "that's not going to happen," said Karen McKinley, a San
Bernardino National Forest trails coordinator. "It impacts a lot of
things when you do this," McKinley said. "It's pretty serious. There
are so many private [companies] and communities that depend upon the
recreationists economically. But you've got to weigh that with the
fire danger."

Forestry officials don't expect to lift the restrictions until the
area gets about 2 inches of rain.

That typically occurs in mid-November, they said, though it's
possible that the restrictions could remain in place until the end of
the year.

Hunters will be particularly hard-hit by the closures. Bow-hunting
season is already underway in most regions, and the gun-hunting deer
season begins in mid-October in most areas.

Officials at California Department of Fish and Game offices across
the region were already trying to provide upset hunters with
alternative spots, such as U.S. Bureau of Land Management land that
is outside the national forests, where they can go.

"We have to assume that the Forest Service is doing what they are
doing for a reason," said Mike McBridge, senior enforcement officer
for Fish and Game's Eastern Sierra-Inland Deserts Region. "We are
living with the fact that it's their decision to make."

Ironically, the Los Padres National Forest may be affected more than
any other area by the closures because officials there are bracing
for big crowds spilling over from closed areas to the south.

"We don't know how much of an increase in use to anticipate as a
result of these other closures," Good said. "And we just want people
to remember that we are in the middle of fire season here too."

Already, Good said, campfires and barbecues have been outlawed
throughout the 1.76-million-acre Los Padres National Forest, as they
have at Southern California's other national forests.”