Forest Management Plan Review Meetings Scheduled

A series of five public meetings have been planned to discuss a document that is scheduled for release on Monday, June 15. The document, created by a closed collaborative group chosen by the National Forest Foundation, is being dubbed the “Need To Change” plan, and it has been drafted to announce the recommended changes that will take place in the Angeles National Forest and the newly created San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.

The collaborative group excludes all actual forest stakeholders, Native Americans with ancestral ties to the land, and a number of the boots-on-the-ground non profit organizations that work directly with the U.S. Forest Service.

The only way those who will be directly and daily impacted by changes made in forest management plans can have a say in what the future holds is by attending these public meetings and making comments on the already-created plan.

The meetings will be open to all members of the public. They will address the specific recommendations for changes within the newly created National Monument area.

A number of stakeholder groups, including the National Forest Homeowners, Big Santa Anita Canyon Permittees Association and Angeles National Forest Stakeholders Association, Inc. will seek to insure that they are not left out of the planning process.

Five public meetings, utilizing an open house format, are scheduled to discuss the planning process and Need to Change the Existing Land Management Plan(hereafter “Need to Change”) document.

June 22 | 4-8 PM | Pacific Community Center | 501 S. Pacific Ave Glendale, CA 91204

June 23 | 4-8 PM | Palmdale Legacy Commons Senior Center | 930 East Ave Q9, Palmdale, CA 93550

June 24 | 4-8 PM | Glendora Public Library | 140 S. Glendora Ave Glendora, CA 91741

June 25 | 4-8 PM | Pico House | 424 N. Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

June 26 | 4-8 PM | Big Pines Lodge | 24537 Big Pines Highway, Wrightwood, CA 93563

The “Need to Change” Document is expected to be released around June 15th and will start the 45-day public comment period. During the planning process there will be two 45-day public comment periods: the first is focused on the “Need for Change” document (June-July 2015) and the second is focused around the draft forest plan amendment and the release of the Environmental Assessment (Spring 2016).

If a person comments at any of the public meetings starting in June 2015, or sends in a comment during the public comment periods, they will have standing to object to the draft forest plan amendment after the environmental assessment is released and before the final decision on the amendment is signed.

READ: SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS MONUMENT PLANNING DOCUMENT

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/aeb6fec4e14f701e36e2a8d0f/files/ANF_Monume...

EXPLORE: PROPOSED SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS MONUMENT MAP

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/aeb6fec4e14f701e36e2a8d0f/files/san_gabrie...

Homeowners and stakeholders within the forest who have questions and concerns or wish to be included in the email alerts can contact Corina Roberts at redbirds_vision@hotmail.com, join the Yahoo group ANF Stakeholders Association https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ANFstakeholders/info

or meet other stakeholder representatives at any of the five upcoming meetings.