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Proposed national park could swallow 170,000 properties, 500,000 acres
Land rights groups are outraged with a federal study aimed at creating a huge national park in Southern California. The proposed national park threatens to shut down small-scale mining among other outdoor and commercial activities.
“The proposed Rim of the Valley National Park is not just hiking trails along the crest of the mountain ranges around Los Angeles as some would have you believe. It is the federalization of nearly 500,000 acres of the Angeles, San Bernardino and Los Padres National Forests and includes — under threat of eminent domain and aggressive regulation — the private property of approximately 170,000 farms, ranches and homeowners.
“The Rim of the Valley National Park will convert hundreds of thousands of now accessible National Forest acres into locked up National Park lands with the roads you now enjoy largely closed off. Combined with the adjoining Park Service, Santa Monica National Recreation Area (NRA), it will be two-thirds the size of Yosemite National Park.
“Congress has little or no understanding of the impact on the economy, energy conservation, private property owners and loss of local control. This bill expands the 153,000-acre Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by 491,000 acres which will be managed for “preservation” by the unelected bureaucrats of the National Park Service from Washington D.C and Joe Edmiston from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
“The regions proposed for the expanded NRA are largely already protected by local parks and multiple use management of the U.S Forest Service. This legislation targets private ranches and homeowners — 11,000 in Ventura County and 158,000 in Los Angeles County.”
While the official public comment period has already expired for Rim of the Valley, it has been extended until Feb. 13 for the San Gabriel study. So far, Congress has only approved the study — not the plans for a park. So, the battle has not been lost. In fact, it may have just begun.
Land rights groups are outraged with a federal study aimed at creating a huge national park in Southern California. The proposed national park threatens to shut down small-scale mining among other outdoor and commercial activities.
“The proposed Rim of the Valley National Park is not just hiking trails along the crest of the mountain ranges around Los Angeles as some would have you believe. It is the federalization of nearly 500,000 acres of the Angeles, San Bernardino and Los Padres National Forests and includes — under threat of eminent domain and aggressive regulation — the private property of approximately 170,000 farms, ranches and homeowners.
“The Rim of the Valley National Park will convert hundreds of thousands of now accessible National Forest acres into locked up National Park lands with the roads you now enjoy largely closed off. Combined with the adjoining Park Service, Santa Monica National Recreation Area (NRA), it will be two-thirds the size of Yosemite National Park.
“Congress has little or no understanding of the impact on the economy, energy conservation, private property owners and loss of local control. This bill expands the 153,000-acre Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by 491,000 acres which will be managed for “preservation” by the unelected bureaucrats of the National Park Service from Washington D.C and Joe Edmiston from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
“The regions proposed for the expanded NRA are largely already protected by local parks and multiple use management of the U.S Forest Service. This legislation targets private ranches and homeowners — 11,000 in Ventura County and 158,000 in Los Angeles County.”
While the official public comment period has already expired for Rim of the Valley, it has been extended until Feb. 13 for the San Gabriel study. So far, Congress has only approved the study — not the plans for a park. So, the battle has not been lost. In fact, it may have just begun.
I don't have the link for the public comments - but I'll try to find it.
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