Protecting the San Gabriel Mountains

One hundred and fifty years ago, President Lincoln signed a law that forever changed the way we conserve our natural heritage. It might have seemed an odd thing to do at the time. We were in the middle of the Civil War. The fate of our union hung in the balance. Lincoln himself had never even been to California; for a good part of his life, his home state of Illinois was the West.

But descriptions, drawings, and even some early photographs of the Yosemite Valley had made their way back East – as had stories about encroaching development that threatened the area. So President Lincoln decided to help protect a place he had never visited, for a nation he might not be able to save. In the darkest of days, he decided to bet on a future he would never live to see. And because he did, generations of Americans have known the wonders of Yosemite National Park.

That’s why, last week, I visited California to designate the San Gabriel Mountains a National Monument. This action will permanently protect more than 346,000 acres of rugged slopes and remote canyons that are home to an extraordinary diversity of wildlife and attract more than three million visitors every year – more than icons like Mount Rushmore and Grand Teton National Park. What’s more, the San Gabriel Mountains contain millennia of history, from the ancient rock art of Native Americans to the Mount Wilson Observatory where Edwin P. Hubble showed the universe to be ever-expanding – and where astronomers explore the mysteries of space today.

That story continues today – and it’s being written by one of our nation’s most vibrant, diverse communities, in the backyard of the second-biggest city in the country. Over fifteen million people live within 90 minutes of the San Gabriel Mountains. The mountains provide residents with roughly 30% of their water and 70% of their open space.

In fact, we heard from the community that for a lot of urban families, the San Gabriels are their only big, outdoor space.

The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument will join a vast landscape of protected natural treasures. We’re blessed with the most beautiful landscapes in the world. And we’re bestowed with the responsibility to preserve our magnificent natural inheritance, and ensure that this “geography of hope” remains the birthright of all Americans – not only for today, but for generations to come