Work To
Impact Access
Mount San Gorgonia from
the San Bernardinos
Santa Ana Fuelbreak
at Forest Road #1N09 & Deer Creek
San
Bernardino National Forest Officials will be working on two projects along Forest
Road #1N09 (locally pronounced with the letter “O” instead of a zero) between State
Route 330 and Angelus Oaks, California. Visitors should prepare for closures
and delays.
Beginning mid-October, near Angelus Oaks, crews
will be working on the Santa Ana Fuelbreak at Forest Road 1N09 and Deer Creek,
working their way 19 miles west to SR-330 over the next several months. The
road will remain open, but visitors should be prepared for delays as equipment
and crews will be working along the road. Dust kicked-up by work may look like
smoke coming from the area.
The Santa Ana Fuelbreak is a historic, strategic
fuelbreak along Forest Road #1N09 that gives firefighters a safe place to work
between large fires and communities. Crews will be creating a 50 ft. buffer on
each side of the road by thinning and masticating vegetation, rearranging fuel
loading from 10 to 12-foot high brush to ground cover. This will reduce flame
lengths and increase the effectiveness of aerial retardant.
Both of these projects are partially funded by a
California Dept. of Water Resources Proposition 84 (2006) grant via the Santa
Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA), which works to address watershed
challenges. As homes to headwaters feeding the Santa Ana River Watershed, the
San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests encompass approximately 30% of
the watershed’s land mass, yet capture an estimated 90% of annual
precipitation, due to greater amounts falling at higher elevations.
The headwaters of the watershed are immensely
important. Projects like these ensure increased water supply reliability,
improve water quality, reduce impacts from catastrophic wildfires and enhance
habitat for a watershed with six million people.
Sand to Snow National
Monument
The 154,000-acre
national monument is composed of 71,000 acres on the San Bernardino National
Forest and 83,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.
Featuring thirty miles of the world famous
Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, the area is a favorite for camping,
hiking, hunting, horseback riding, photography, wildlife viewing, and even
skiing.
This is the fifth national monument in the
Pacific Southwest Region, and the fourth national monument to be co-managed by
the Forest Service and BLM.