More So Cal Nat. Forests Closed

“Cleveland Forest to close

Environment Forest Service cites extreme fire danger. Some campsites will remain open.

By PAT BRENNAN

The Orange County Register
The U.S. Forest Service will shut down almost the entire 430,000-acre Cleveland National Forest to the public starting Friday.

A few developed campsites and hunting areas will remain open, but hiking, biking, horseback riding, off-road vehicles and hunting will be forbidden in most of the tinder-dry forest until Southern California receives significant rainfall. The national forest covers most of Orange County's eastern border.

"There's a risk of fire and of somebody being hurt out there," said Mike Kremke, Trabuco district fire-management officer for the Cleveland National Forest. "There are economic impacts if we burn a large chunk of Cleveland National Forest. We did not make this decision lightly."

Both the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests are already largely closed because of fire danger in the wake of the Williams Fire that burned 38,000 acres and destroyed 76 buildings in the Angeles Forest.

The few areas to remain open in the Cleveland include several developed campgrounds in the forest's 134,567-acre Trabuco District, which lies in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties.

The district is the second- largest of the three that make up the Cleveland Forest, which stretches from Riverside County nearly to the Mexican border.

Fires won't be allowed in camping areas, though butane stoves can be used.

Local outdoor enthusiast groups on Wednesday were urging their members by phone and e-mail to obey the coming closure.

"People need to stay out of the forest 'til this is over," said Chris Vargas, an avid mountain biker and executive director of the Warrior's Society, an Orange County- based biking group.

Forest Service law-enforcement officials will patrol the forest and issue fines to violators, said forest spokeswoman Cathy Bacon.

The closure means a tight squeeze for many deer hunters. The deer-hunting season in this area was supposed to open Saturday, and about 1,500 people have purchased licenses for Orange and parts of Los Angeles and San Diego counties, said Pat Baar of Turner's Outdoorsman in Orange.

Officials with the state Department of Fish and Game said hunting licenses can be exchanged for other areas of the state, but, because of the other forest closures, opportunities in Southern California are few.

Two areas in the forest's Palomar District and one in the Descanso District will remain open to hunting, Bacon said.

People who own cabins inside the forest will still have access to their property, she said, and Ortega Highway will remain open.

But businesses that rely on forest visitors could be hit hard. Bacon did not have attendance figures, but she said 19 million people live in or visit the area around the forest each year. Based on revenue from forest Adventure Passes, which are required to use the forest, Bacon said perhaps 1,200 carloads of people per month might arrive this time of year.

People with year-long Adventure Passes will receive extensions when they expire to cover the closure period, she said.

The forest closure will likely drive bikers, hikers, equestrians and others into county and state parks, such as Whiting Ranch, Caspers, O'Neill and Crystal Cove State Park - some of which already have large numbers of visitors.

"They're already overburdened," said Jim Meyer of Trails4All, a nonprofit group that coordinates trail maintenance in the county. A large amount of trail maintenance has gone undone this year because the dry ground is too hard to work in, he said.

Mike Eaton, supervising ranger of Crystal Cove State Park, said he expects more visitors, too, but he believes the park can handle the increase.

Just when the forest reopens depends on when Southern California receives at least 2 inches of good, hard rain to moisten vegetation and reduce fire danger.

The region is in the grip of a severe drought. The Orange County area has not received a full inch of rain during a single storm since February 2001.

Rainy season fizzled this year, and while impending El Niño conditions could bring rain sometime this winter, experts don't know when or how much.”

“I am not surprised. Half of my Boy Scout campouts as a kid were in the Cleveland National Forest.

I hope we get some rain soon.”