home | about us | vision | ecosystem | calendar | activities | gallery | contact | partners | español | donate | silverado film festival | arts & cultural center | walking stick storytellers guild

< Protect the Santa Ana Mountains as a New National Monument >




Chaparral, Giant Ferns and Black Star Falls in the Santa Ana Mountains
Credit: Joel Robinson

July 1st marks the 103rd anniversary of the establishment of the Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland National Forest, one of Southern California's last untouched havens for wildlife, including mountain lions, deer, badgers, western pond turtles, and steelhead trout. The establishment of the forest happened almost 7 months after the last known grizzly bear was trapped and killed in the Santa Ana Mountains!

The Santa Ana Mountains represent a microcosm of California’s natural world in one place. Astonishingly, one of the country’s most intense concentrations of wildlife survives within one of its most densely developed regions.

Here is the largest coastal open space in southern California, some of its rarest woodlands, its most impressive grasslands, as well as extensive chaparral. The only year-round free-flowing river in the vicinity—the Santa Margarita—runs down the southern end of the mountains, and a steep-walled sandstone ravine reminds onlookers of a small-scale Grand Canyon.

Send a letter to President Obama, urging him to protect the Santa Ana Mountains by designating it as The Grizzly Bear National Monument. You can send the sample letter below or edit it with your own words to explain why protecting the Santa Ana Mountains is important to YOU.

Cut and paste this message into the White House contact page by using the following link (below):

Sample Comments

Dear Planning Team:





Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]

home | about us | vision | ecosystem | calendar | activities | gallery | contact | partners | español | donate | silverado film festival | arts & cultural center | walking stick storytellers guild