Presidential Document2024-10408
Boundary Enlargement of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument
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Published
May 10, 2024
Signed
May 2, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 92 (Friday, May 10, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 92 (Friday, May 10, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 40361-40368]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10408]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 92 / Friday, May 10, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 40361]]
Proclamation 10746 of May 2, 2024
Boundary Enlargement of the San Gabriel Mountains
National Monument
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Through Proclamation 9194 of October 10, 2014,
President Obama established the San Gabriel Mountains
National Monument (monument) to protect the rich
cultural history, striking geologic features, and
vibrant ecological diversity contained within a portion
of the Angeles National Forest. Situated in the
mountains north of Los Angeles, the monument is a
verdant oasis that contains abundant and distinctive
flora and fauna; unique geology; and evidence of
centuries of occupation and use by Tribal Nations and
Indigenous peoples, Spanish missionaries and colonists,
Mexican rancheros, and Euro-American settlers and
prospectors. In addition to protecting these and other
objects of historic and scientific interest, the
monument's pristine natural lands and proximity to Los
Angeles make it a unique place of rejuvenation and
recreation for the people of the ever-changing urban
and suburban communities of greater Los Angeles.
Expanding the monument to include the expanse of the
Angeles National Forest that stretches south and west
from the current boundary to the National Forest
boundary near foothill communities of Los Angeles will
protect additional objects of scientific and historic
interest. This expansion area contains evidence of
thousands of years of use and occupation by Indigenous
peoples, as well as evidence of more recent human uses,
including the ruins of grand recreation resorts and of
a missile unit built during the Cold War. A diversity
of animals, birds, reptiles, and other wildlife,
including numerous threatened and endangered species,
live among the unique geological and ecological
features of the expansion area, including its unusual
canyons, chaparral, and coastal sage scrub lands, and
use the area to travel from the lowlands in the south
to the soaring mountains in the north.
Since time immemorial, the rich landscape within the
expansion area has sustained a mosaic of Indigenous
peoples, including the people known as the Gabrielino,
Kizh, or Tongva, and the Chumash Kitanemuk, Serrano,
and Tataviam peoples. The displacement of these peoples
from the area began between 1770 and 1816, when Spanish
missionaries forcibly assimilated the region's
Indigenous families into surrounding missions, and
continued past California's admission into the Union.
Today, their descendants are part of Tribal Nations and
other Indigenous peoples in the region, some of whose
members continue to use the area for ceremonial
purposes, as well as for collecting traditional plants
important for basketry, food, and medicine.
Evidence of many eras of human history can be found in
the expansion area. Dozens of known sites shed light on
the daily life and activities of Indigenous peoples,
including seasonal habitation, plant and mineral
resource collection, food processing, tool
manufacturing, and transportation corridors. One known
site contains a seasonal encampment where there is
evidence of food processing and tool production use
from 1150 to 1771, including midden, flaked lithics and
tools, ground stones, and hearths and earth ovens. The
area also contains evidence of use associated with
permanent Indigenous villages that were located
adjacent to the expansion area
[[Page 40362]]
at the base of the area's canyons, including the Tongva
villages of Muuhonga and Tohuunga.
Other sites contain lithic materials, including fused
shale and obsidian that came from areas far to the
north. These materials provide evidence of the ancient
Indigenous trade routes that crisscrossed the area,
bringing small game, deer, acorns, sage, pi[ntilde]on
nuts, yucca, elderberry, and manzanita berry, among
other resources, south into the Los Angeles Basin, and
asphaltum, shell and soapstone cooking vessels, beads,
pipes, effigies, pendants, and comals north into the
mountains.
Mining made its way to the San Gabriel Mountains in the
19th century, following the discovery of gold in
Placerita Canyon in 1842. Visitors to the area today
can still see evidence of this first gold rush,
including the remains of a mine shaft and ore cart
rails of the Dawn Mine and mill site, which remained in
operation until 1954. The remains of the Tujunga Mining
District, including the shafts of the Josephine Mine
above Mill Creek, evidence a second minor gold rush in
the late 1880s.
The expansion area also contains evidence of Euro-
American settlers who looked to these lands to provide
mineral resources, wood for fuel and construction,
other building materials, and water. Near Little
Tujunga Canyon, three well-preserved limekilns,
eligible for inclusion in the National Register of
Historic Places, were constructed around 1870 with
local limestone and granite cobbles within a mortar
matrix. Visitors to the area can also traverse trails
first developed by Indigenous peoples and later
modified by Euro-American settlers. For example,
ranchero and later Mayor of Los Angeles Benjamin Davis
Wilson, also known as Don Benito, using labor from
Indigenous and Spanish workers, built the trail known
today as the Mount Wilson Trail to transport timber to
his rancho. The Gabrielino Trail, which the Congress
designated as America's first National Recreation Trail
in 1970, incorporates trails that another 19th century
trail maker, Wilbur Sturtevant, developed possibly
along established Indigenous routes.
The expansion area also contains evidence of highly
popular recreational pursuits of the Great Hiking Era
of the early 20th century, when throngs of hikers and
outdoor enthusiasts went to the mountains of southern
California. This evidence includes the remains of the
Mount Lowe Electric Railway (Railway), which was opened
in 1893 to transport passengers from foothill
communities to three impressive mountain resorts. The
Railway, which is listed in the National Register of
Historic Places as a Historic District, was the only
scenic mountain electric traction railway ever built in
the United States and became a tourist destination
because of its remarkable location and engineering
audacity. It recorded an estimated three million
visitors between 1893 and 1938.
Today's visitors who hike to Echo Mountain will see
portions of the railroad bed and crossties, a platform,
trestle foundations, and scattered remains of the
powerhouse's massive cog-wheel or ``bullwheel'' used to
pull the incline car up the mountain. Nearby, visitors
can also observe the remains of a once grand resort
served by the Railway, including a staircase and the
foundation footprint of a 70-room hotel, the remains of
a zoo, the foundation of an observatory and telescope
pedestal, two large concrete water tanks, and rock
retaining walls outlining the tennis courts and casino.
Visitors can also see remnants of a three million
candlepower searchlight installed on the mountain from
the 1893 Columbia Exposition World's Fair, and a
largely intact, original ``echophone'' used by visitors
to hear the canyon's echoes. A trestle abutment of the
Railway can also be found near the Mount Lowe
Campground. Nearby, at the head of Grand Canyon,
visitors can see the rear wall of another of the
resorts served by the Railway, the 12-room Swiss-style
Ye Alpine Tavern.
To the north and west of the Railway, ruins of hike-in
camps include the foundation of Switzer's Camp,
developed by Commodore Perry Switzer in the early
1880s. That camp hosted Henry Ford, Shirley Temple, and
numerous other celebrities.
[[Page 40363]]
The southeastern portion of the expansion area contains
64 cabins that were once part of the Big Santa Anita
Canyon Summer Home Tract. This development was
established to respond to the burgeoning early 20th
century desire to be closer to, and have second homes
in, natural settings. The tract originally contained 88
cabins and 12 associated campgrounds. Eligible for
inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places,
the cabins epitomized the rustic architectural design
style of the early 20th century, and are notable for
the care taken in sensitively siting them into the
rugged topography.
Above El Prieto Canyon, in the southern portion of the
expansion area, is the homestead site of a former cabin
built and lived in by Robert Owens. Owens was a
formerly enslaved person who built a thriving wood and
building supply business in and around the canyon,
becoming the wealthiest African American in Los Angeles
County in 1865.
The expansion area also includes the historic Big
Tujunga Dam, completed in 1931, and Brown Mountain Dam,
constructed by the United States Forest Service (Forest
Service) in 1943. The Lincoln Avenue Water Company
water system is also in the area, which was constructed
in the 1880s and is eligible for inclusion in the
National Register of Historic Places.
The Los Pinetos Nike Missile site, which is eligible
for inclusion in the National Register of Historic
Places, played a vital role in United States national
defense during the Cold War era. This site, along with
the Mount Gleason Nike Missile site, which was
destroyed by a wildfire in 2009, is among the 300 Nike
Missile sites constructed across the country from 1955
to 1958 that were intended to serve as the last line of
defense against Soviet bomber planes. The Los Pinetos
Nike Missile site is unusual because its launch,
administrative, and battery control facilities are
located within a single line of sight.
In addition to extensive historical resources, the
expansion area reflects massive geologic forces over
hundreds of millions of years that created an
exceptional landscape, providing views deep into the
ancient Earth. The steep and rugged San Gabriel
Mountains are one of the fastest growing mountain
ranges in the world. These mountains form a major part
of the east-west trending Transverse Ranges of southern
California, a portion of which is in the expansion
area. They were formed from eons of geological movement
during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras when the geologic
Farallon Plate and the North American Plate crashed
together. Dragged as much as 50 degrees in some places
by these powerful forces, the San Gabriel Mountains
have an unusual east-west orientation, instead of the
more typical north-south orientation.
Around Mount Lowe, the uplift of rare anorthosite
complex rocks that are 1.2 billion years old, including
anorthosite pluton, syenite, and mafic rocks, reveals
the dramatic twisting that can occur as mountains are
formed. Evidence of this geological process typically
lies far below the surface, making the area a hotbed of
geological study and a natural classroom for the
public. Around Mendenhall Peak, the bands and swirls of
1.7 to 1.8 billion-year-old Mendenhall Gneiss, the
region's oldest rocks, are exposed.
The expansion area also contains scientifically
important paleontological resources, particularly
invertebrate fossils such as oysters and gastropods, at
sites including Gold Canyon near Little Tujunga Canyon.
The expansion area is composed of many distinct and
diverse ecosystem zones that support rich biodiversity,
including more than 500 native plants and fungi, as
well as important habitat including riparian woodlands,
montane hardwood and conifer forests, coastal sage
scrub, alluvial sage scrub, and extensive chaparral.
The area also provides important connectivity to enable
species to move from the foothills of the south to the
soaring mountains of the north.
Perennial streams, springs, and associated riparian
areas, and numerous seasonal tributaries, all support
wetland-dependent plant species such as the California
muhly and the Sonoran maiden fern, the latter of which
[[Page 40364]]
is designated as rare by the State of California. These
riparian areas also provide critical habitat for
sensitive fish and amphibians, including the threatened
Santa Ana speckled dace and the threatened Santa Ana
sucker found in Big Tujunga Creek, and the endangered
Arroyo Toad found in both the Arroyo Seco and Big
Tujunga Creek. Habitats for the steelhead trout and the
Arroyo chub, a State species of special concern, are
also found in Arroyo Seco and Big Tujunga Creek.
A rich variety of rare plants can be found in the
expansion area, including the San Gabriel manzanita,
San Gabriel Mountains leather oak, San Gabriel
Mountains sunflower, San Gabriel bedstraw, and San
Gabriel Mountains dudleya, all of which are found only
or primarily in the San Gabriel Mountains, and the
California muhly, fragrant pitcher sage, Greata's
aster, and Plummer's mariposa lily, found only in
southern California. Other rare species include the
Mount Gleason paintbrush, California satintail, and
Chaparral yucca, which is part of an extraordinary,
mutually beneficial partnership with the interdependent
California yucca moth.
While extremely reduced from its overall historic
range, pockets of alluvial scrub habitat, particularly
around Big Tujunga Canyon, provide a home for the rare
endemic Davidson's bushmallow. Southern California's
bigcone Douglas-fir, which is well adapted to the
region's natural wildfire regime, is present in
strongholds around San Gabriel Peak, the Switzer Falls
Trail, and south of Mount Wilson, providing important
nesting and roosting habitat for the California spotted
owl, which the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
has proposed to list as endangered.
Coastal sage scrub, among the most threatened plant
communities in California, occurs primarily at
elevations below 2,500 feet south of Mount Wilson and
along the north side of Big Tujunga Creek. This rare
plant community includes California sagebrush,
brittlebush, California buckwheat, and various types of
sage. Coastal sage scrub, which can be found in
Placerita Canyon, provides critical habitat for the
threatened coastal California gnatcatcher.
Montane hardwood and conifer forests south of Big
Tujunga Bridge and Mount Wilson are typified by live
oak, bigleaf maple, California bay, incense cedar,
Pacific madrone, Coulter pine, sugar pine, and
California incense cedar, as well as understory species
such as ceanothus, coffeeberry, gooseberry, and
currants. These forests provide habitat for a wide
variety of wildlife such as black bears, mule deer,
various reptiles, birds, and butterflies, as well as
fish and amphibians that rely on the cool water found
there. Birds that can be found seasonally or year-round
in the expansion area include the endangered California
condor and Least Bell's vireo; the threatened western
population of yellow-billed cuckoo; the Swainson's
hawk, which is listed as threatened by the State of
California; the Peregrine falcon; and the California-
listed willow flycatcher. The southwestern pond turtle,
which the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has
proposed to list as threatened, is also found in the
area, along with the two-striped garter snake and the
Southern California legless lizard, which are
designated as sensitive species by the Angeles National
Forest. Many species of bats use the area's canyons and
waters, including the pallid bat and big free-tailed
bat, both California special status species, along with
migrants and resident bats, such as the hoary bat, Yuma
myotis, small-footed myotis, canyon bat, big brown bat,
Mexican free-tailed bat, long-eared myotis, and
California myotis.
In addition to these key habitats, the area also
contains important migration corridors that connect
vulnerable habitats throughout the greater region. A
striking example in the northwest portion of the
expansion area is Bear Divide, which funnels thousands
of migratory birds through a narrow pass along the
Pacific Flyway, the primary avian migration route on
the West Coast that extends from Central America to the
Arctic. Another important corridor is the Arroyo Seco-
Hahamongna Corridor, which connects the south-central
portion of the expansion area to other nearby natural
areas outside the Angeles National Forest boundary.
[[Page 40365]]
Despite its proximity to urban Los Angeles, the
expansion area includes secluded and largely
undeveloped areas such as the 4,700-acre Arroyo Seco
Inventoried Roadless Area, which is an iconic landscape
feature.
Protecting the expansion area will preserve an
important spiritual, cultural, prehistoric, and
historic landscape; maintain a diverse array of natural
and scientific resources; and help ensure that the
objects of historic and scientific interest within the
area endure for the benefit of all Americans. As
described above, the expansion area contains numerous
objects of historic and scientific interest in need of
protection. In addition, it provides exceptional
outdoor recreational opportunities, including hiking,
hunting, fishing, biking, horseback riding,
backpacking, scenic driving, and wildlife viewing, all
of which are important to residents of and visitors to
the Los Angeles region.
WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code
(the ``Antiquities Act''), authorizes the President, in
his discretion, to declare by public proclamation
historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric
structures, and other objects of historic or scientific
interest that are situated upon the lands owned or
controlled by the Federal Government to be national
monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of
land, the limits of which shall be confined to the
smallest area compatible with the proper care and
management of the objects to be protected; and
WHEREAS, I find that each of the objects identified
above, and objects of the type identified above within
the area described herein, are objects of historic or
scientific interest in need of protection under section
320301 of title 54, United States Code, regardless of
whether they are expressly identified as an object of
historic or scientific interest in the text of this
proclamation; and
WHEREAS, I find that there are threats to the objects
identified in this proclamation, and in the absence of
a reservation under the Antiquities Act, the objects
identified in this proclamation are not adequately
protected by applicable law or administrative
designations, thus making a national monument
designation and reservation necessary to protect the
objects of historic and scientific interest identified
above for current and future generations; and
WHEREAS, I find that the boundaries of the monument
reserved by this proclamation represent the smallest
area compatible with the proper care and management of
the objects of scientific or historic interest
identified above, as required by the Antiquities Act;
and
WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to ensure the
preservation, restoration, and protection of the
objects of scientific and historic interest identified
above;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by the authority vested
in me by section 320301 of title 54, United States
Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that
are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or
controlled by the Federal Government to be part of the
San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and, for the
purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as part
thereof all lands and interests in lands that are owned
or controlled by the Federal Government within the
boundaries described on the accompanying map, which is
attached hereto and forms a part of this proclamation.
The reserved Federal lands and interests in lands
within the expansion area encompass approximately
105,919 acres. As a result of the distribution of the
objects throughout the area, the boundaries described
on the accompanying map are confined to the smallest
area compatible with the proper care and management of
the objects of historic or scientific interest
identified above.
Nothing in this proclamation shall change the
management of the areas protected under Proclamation
9194. The terms, conditions, and management direction
provided by Proclamation 9194, including any term
limiting the construction or effect of Proclamation
9194, are incorporated by reference
[[Page 40366]]
and shall apply to the area reserved by this
proclamation except to the extent that they are
inconsistent with a provision in this proclamation.
All Federal lands and interests in lands described on
the accompanying map are hereby appropriated and
withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection,
sale, or other disposition under the public land laws
or laws applicable to the Forest Service, other than by
exchange that furthers the protective purposes of the
monument; from location, entry, and patent under the
mining laws; and from disposition under all laws
relating to mineral and geothermal leasing.
This proclamation is subject to valid existing rights.
If the Federal Government subsequently acquires any
lands or interests in lands not currently owned or
controlled by the Federal Government within the
boundaries described on the accompanying map, such
lands and interests in lands shall be reserved as a
part of the monument, and objects of the type
identified above that are situated upon those lands and
interests in lands shall be part of the monument, upon
acquisition of ownership or control by the Federal
Government.
The Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary), through the
Forest Service, shall manage the expansion area
pursuant to applicable legal authorities and in
accordance with the terms, conditions, and management
direction provided by this proclamation and, as
described above, those provided by Proclamation 9194.
The Secretary shall prepare, in consultation with the
Secretary of the Interior, a management plan for the
expansion area set forth in this proclamation, which
shall include provisions for continuing outdoor
recreational opportunities consistent with the proper
care and management of the objects identified above,
and shall promulgate such rules and regulations for the
management of the expansion area as the Secretary shall
deem appropriate. At the Secretary's discretion, such
management plan may be included as a component of the
existing management plan developed pursuant to
Proclamation 9194. The Secretary shall provide for
maximum public involvement in the development of the
management plan, including consultation with Tribal
Nations and meaningful engagement with Indigenous
peoples that have cultural, traditional, or ancestral
ties to the area, with community environmental,
conservation, health, and justice organizations, and
with State and local governments. To the maximum extent
practicable, the Secretary shall carefully incorporate
Indigenous Knowledge in the development and
implementation of the management plan, work with Tribal
Nations to appropriately protect that knowledge, and,
to the extent practicable, explain any limitations on
the Secretary's ability to protect such information
from disclosure before it is shared with the Forest
Service. The management plan shall provide for the
protection and interpretation of the objects of
scientific and historic interest identified above. The
management plan shall also provide for continued public
access to the area to the extent consistent with the
protection of the objects identified above.
The Secretary, through the Forest Service, shall
establish an advisory committee under chapter 10 of
title 5, United States Code, to provide information and
advice regarding the development of the management plan
and management of the expansion area. The advisory
committee shall consist of a fair and balanced
representation of interested stakeholders, including
State agencies and local governments; Tribal Nations
and Indigenous peoples with cultural, traditional, or
ancestral ties to the area; recreational users;
conservation organizations; wildlife, hunting, and
fishing organizations; the scientific community;
business owners; and the general public in the region.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke
any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation;
however, the monument shall be the dominant
reservation.
[[Page 40367]]
Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not
to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature
of the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of
the lands thereof.
If any provision of this proclamation, including its
application to a particular parcel of land, is held to
be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and its
application to other parcels of land shall not be
affected thereby.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
second day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand
twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3395-F4-P
[[Page 40368]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD10MY24.125
[FR Doc. 2024-10408
Filed 5-9-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3410-10-C
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