Environmentalists, cities, scientists and hikers want a larger portion of the mountain range and its rivers shielded from pollution and population woes with strong federal protections.
The river ripples cold around his waders as Bill Reeves casts a dry fly onto a pool edged with alders on the bottom of a canyon deep in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Reeves, 69, who first fished this stretch of the San Gabriel River's west fork with his father more than half a century ago, was in his element — scanning the eddies for rising wild trout in a wilderness that resurrected childhood memories.
"I'd be happy if this place stayed just the way it is," the stout conservationist said. "But with 10 million people living within an hour's drive, these mountains definitely need more protection."
Reeves is a member of San Gabriel Mountains Forever, a campaign that is pushing Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) to fashion a bill that would shield a larger portion of the 655,000-acre range and its free-flowing rivers from pollution and population woes with the strongest federal protections available.
Reeves, 69, who first fished this stretch of the San Gabriel River's west fork with his father more than half a century ago, was in his element — scanning the eddies for rising wild trout in a wilderness that resurrected childhood memories.
"I'd be happy if this place stayed just the way it is," the stout conservationist said. "But with 10 million people living within an hour's drive, these mountains definitely need more protection."
Reeves is a member of San Gabriel Mountains Forever, a campaign that is pushing Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) to fashion a bill that would shield a larger portion of the 655,000-acre range and its free-flowing rivers from pollution and population woes with the strongest federal protections available.
The goal is to add 30,000 acres to three existing wilderness areas and have 44 miles of San Antonio Creek, the middle fork of Lytle Creek and portions of the San Gabriel River's east, west and north forks protected under the national Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which would prohibit new damming
To read more- http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-0516-sangabriels-20100516,0,4146013.story
Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times
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