Boundary Enlargement of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, 40361-40368 [2024-10408]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[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 [www.gpo.gov]
[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.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

Billing code 3395-F4-P


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[FR Doc. 2024-10408
Filed 5-9-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3410-10-C