LOS ANGELES - El U.S. Forest Service (Servicio de Bosques de los Estados Unidos) celebra una una reunión pública este martes, en torno al tema de la protección de las Montañas de San Gabriel.

La convocatoria nació de una encuesta que realizó la semana pasada el grupo “San Gabriel Mountains Forever” (Montañas de San Gabriel por siempre), durante la que se detectó un fuerte apoyo por parte de los votantes de Los Angeles.

Ese giro marca un cambio de rumbo para la protección de esta zona. Algunos miembros de la Delegación del Congreso de California están solicitando al Presidente Obama su apoyo para proteger estas tierras federales, declarándolas monumento nacional.

La congresista Judy Chu, cuya propuesta de convertir estas tierras en áreas de recreación nacional se encuentra estancada, apoya firmemente la iniciativa. Argumenta que este bosque recibe más de tres millones de visitantes cada año, pero los servicios y los recursos no han sido actualizados.

“Necesitamos mejor señalización, más contenedores de basura, más servicios para el personal y para los visitantes, mejor preservación de los recursos naturales, y los necesitamos ya.”

De acuerdo con una encuesta reciente, el 80% de los electores del condado de Los Angeles respaldan la propuesta de protección a las montañas y ríos de San Gabriel, sobre todo en cuanto a conservar el agua limpia, aire limpio y los espacios abiertos para disfrute de las familias.

Este martes, el U. S. Forest Service (Servicio de Bosques de los EE.UU.) lleva a cabo una reunión pública sobre este tema, en el Performing Arts Center (Centro de Artes Escénicas) del parque Baldwin.

Xilonín Cruz-González, presidenta del distrito escolar unificado Azusa, dice que muchos niños ya viven atrapados en un mundo virtual y que se están perdiendo de experiencias de la vida real.

“…poder sacarlos de ahí no sólo para que vean lo que hay en nuestro patio trasero, sino también hacerlo más tangible. Que puedan ver el agua que corre río abajo, y que sepan que esa es el agua que eventualmente estaremos tomando nosotros.”

La encuesta "Montañas de San Gabriel por Siempre" se realizó en mayo y registró 500 votantes del condado de Los Ángeles. Los resultados reflejaron un apoyo mayoritario entre latinos, con 88 por ciento, y un 82% entre asiáticos.

La investigación puede consultarse en www.sangabrielmountains.org.

La protección de las montañas de San Gabriel podría estar tomando un cambio de rumbo. Algunos miembros de la Delegación del Congreso de California están solicitando al Presidente Obama su apoyo para proteger estas tierras federales declarándolas monumento nacional. La congresista Judy Chu apoya la iniciativa ya que su propuesta de convertir estas tierras en un áreas de recreación nacional se ha visto estancada. Ella argumenta que este bosque recibe más de tres millones de visitantes cada año, pero que los servicios y los recursos no han sido los suficientes.

"Necesitamos mejores señalizaciones, más contenedores de basura, más servicios para el personal y para los visitantes, mejor preservación de los recursos naturales, y lo necesitamos ya."

De acuerdo con una reciente encuesta, el 80% de los votantes del condado de Los Ángeles apoyan a la propuesta de protección a las montañas y ríos de san Gabriel, sobretodo para la preservación del agua limpia, aire limpio y espacios abiertos para que las familias disfruten. El servicio americano de bosques llevará a cabo una reunión pública del tema el martes en el Centro de Artes Escénicas del parque Baldwin.


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State and federal agencies are collaborating to increase the use of prescribed fires in the Northwest.

Prescribed fire is the controlled use of burns to minimize the larger risks of wildfires and smoke. It is seen as an increasingly important strategy as wildfire seasons pose greater threats to the Northwest.

Casey Sixkiller, Northwest regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said authorities want to work together to maintain forest habitats.

"Prescribed burn is one of the best tools we have for making our forests more resilient against catastrophic wildfires and they help to manage and target hazardous fuels and make for healthier forests," Sixkiller explained.

Sixkiller pointed out the EPA is involved because wildfire smoke poses risks to people's health. The collaboration is between federal agencies, departments in Oregon and Washington, and tribal governments.

Sixkiller noted the collaboration needed a formal agreement to move forward.

"That is what we've been able to do here with this agreement," Sixkiller emphasized. "To get federal land managers and states and us all in the same room, making sure that we're all on the same page about what success looks like."

Sixkiller added the collaboration has another advantage: It helps drive engagement with communities potentially in the path of prescribed burns.

"They have the confidence that the effort that's gone into planning that activity has been thought out from soup to nuts," Sixkiller acknowledged. "And that they have a seat at the table and are being engaged and their concerns are being addressed as we go forward with that activity."


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A new study in the journal Nature Communications by Montana researchers said suppressing small wildfires is leading to larger, more intense and damaging blazes.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, about 98% of wildfires are fully suppressed before they grow to 100 acres; most of them within 72 hours. In Montana, the latest data show crews kept 95% of wildfires in Montana to no more than 10 acres in 2022.

Mark Kreider, a doctoral candidate in forest and conservation science at the University of Montana and co-author of the report, said the strategy leads to what is known as fire "suppression bias."

"Removing more of one type of fire than the other, what we're left with is bias towards the higher intensity fires, these more extreme fires," Kreider explained.

Montana state policy calls for crews to extinguish fires as quickly as possible, even small ones. Kreider pointed out researchers recommend letting low-intensity fires burn where possible to reduce the risk and damage potential for larger, hotter-burning and more catastrophic blazes.

Kreider acknowledged as the population grows along the urban-wildland interface, letting fires burn is not always possible, but argued it might be the best strategy for heading off catastrophic fires later.

"Especially in the western U.S. where people live close to forests, fire suppression is very important and we still must do it," Kreider noted. "But this research helps to show when possible in places where it's safe to do so, we really may benefit from allowing more low and moderate intensity fire to burn."

The National Interagency Fire Center said the number of acres scorched by wildfire has doubled since the 1980s, and the cost to battle the fires has risen to nearly $3 billion a year.


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The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has awarded $3.1 million for 13 projects to reduce wildfire risk to communities and improve forest health.

The funding money is part of the $15 million Montana Forest Action Plan, which takes a big-picture approach to reducing the risk of wildfires.

Wyatt Frampton, deputy division administrator of forestry and trust lands for the Montana Department of Natural Resources, said the money will be used to foster fire-management cooperation between state and private landowners across 3,200 acres of forest.

"Through a variety of activities, such as prescribed fire, logging, mechanical thinning, hand activities as well as tree planting," Frampton outlined.

The 13 most recent restoration projects are spread across the state, including in Lewis and Clark County, the Bitterroot and the South Swan Valley.

Frampton said the DNR is aiming to create a cohesive fire-reduction plan across Montana's landscape, which has until now been inconsistent because of different sets of land-management practices.

"Right now when we see a patchwork of treatments across some of the landscapes in the state, from a fire-management perspective, it doesn't create a clean or effective barrier for trying to stop the fire in that area," Frampton explained. "Where, if we had a cohesive landscape-level treatment, that would help."

Frampton added having a statewide cohesive fire-management plan would also allow the DNR and other agencies to slow the spread of potentially destructive insects in Montana's forests.


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