Cleveland Forest Plan Focuses on Use, Protection

The U.S. Forest Service has released its 15-year plan for the 567,000-acre Cleveland National Forest--a plan that offers many concessions to environmentalists while increasing access for campers and off-road vehicles.

The report in three large paperbound volumes--together more than two inches thick--details plans for a large forest that stretches across Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties in three ranger districts from north to south: Trabuco, Palomar and Descanso.

The plan was approved last month by San Francisco-based Zane G. Smith Jr., Pacific Southwest regional forester, after five years of studies, planning and public comments.

A draft of the plan, issued a year ago, drew fire from environmentalists who said planners had tried to please too many special interests at the expense of the forest’s overall quality, and they complained that some sections were too vague.

2 Wilderness Areas Missing

Many of the environmentalists’ suggestions are incorporated in the final plan--including tighter controls on target shooting, cattle grazing and chaparral harvesting. The plan does not designate two new wilderness areas, however, that the Sierra Club and others had strongly advocated.

“I think the plan is significantly improved over the draft,” said Ken Croker, chairman of the Sierra Club’s Cleveland National Forest committee. “Most of our criticisms . . . were addressed in the final plan.”

Still, one important question remains: In an era of federal budget cuts, can the Forest Service afford to carry out its wide-ranging plans for the Cleveland?

The management plan projects an $11.4-million annual budget for the forest, but the funds available--this year about $7 million--have been declining steadily since 1980, said Bob King, assistant planner at the forest’s San Diego headquarters.

Forest officials expect a slight increase next year, to about $7.4 million--still about a third less than projected in the management plan. That kind of shortfall, King said, would slow the plan’s implementation but not cause a decline in the forest’s environment.

“I have some concern that they will not divvy up the pie in an equitable manner when they come up short,” Croker said. Programs like habitat enhancement and public-access improvement may get smaller slices when they have to compete for funds with “necessary” programs like fire suppression, he said.

“A lot of the plans they talk about are never going to come to pass if they don’t get the funding,” Croker said.

About 10 million people live within a two-hour drive of the forest, which includes mountainous, mostly chaparral-covered land that is home to many endangered plant species--species such as the Tecate cypress.

“Above all,” Regional Forester Smith wrote in his decision to approve the plan, “the Cleveland National Forest offers this large population area an escape from an urban environment into a quality natural environment.”

Access Provisions

Access to the some of the forest’s rolling foothills, rugged mountains and steep canyons has been limited, however, by inadequate or closed roads and blocked by adjacent private property owners.

The management plan calls for resurfacing, realigning and widening the Cleveland’s most-traveled roads, and for gaining public access to roads that cross private lands. “We’re going to keep an eye on that and see that they perform,” Croker said.

The Forest Service has a spotty track record on public access, Croker said, citing the planned closure of Skyline Drive by Riverside County. Beginning this fall, Croker said, the northern Santa Ana Mountains will be virtually impossible to reach once the county blocks the dirt road that climbs into the Trabuco District of the forest from the Corona foothills.

Riverside County supervisors ordered the winding road closed, citing potential liability for accidents. A road from the Orange County side, through Black Star Canyon, is open only a few weeks each year.

Environmentalists still object that the plan does not expand the portion of the national forest designated as wilderness for preservation in a natural state. Four wilderness areas now account for about 18% of the Cleveland.

Areas Set Aside

Although the final plan still does not extend the wilderness designation to the Sill Hill area in the Descanso District and the Caliente area in the Palomar District, it leaves them roadless and recommends setting aside five other areas--totaling 2,271 acres--to protect significant natural ecosystems:

- King Creek, a 750-acre area (Descanso District) that includes all the forest’s stands of rare Cuyamaca cypress. It is proposed as a research area--”for non-manipulative observation, research and ecological study. It is to be maintained in a virgin, unmodified condition.”

- Organ Valley, a 600-acre area on Black Mountain (Palomar District) that includes a large grove of Englemann oaks, native only to Southern California and northern Baja California. “Many of the original groves have been destroyed by overgrazing or development,” the plan says.

- A 400-acre stand of big-cone Douglas fir, already included within the Agua Tibia Wilderness (Palomar District). Such large stands of these trees are uncommon on the Cleveland, the plan notes, suggesting that it be designated a research natural area as well.

- The west fork of the San Luis Rey River (Palomar District), the only wild trout fishery in the national forest. An 86-acre stretch is proposed as a “special interest area”--set aside for preservation, but also open to recreational and scientific uses.

- Old stands of Tecate cypress on Guatay Mountain (Descanso District). A 435-acre tract that includes these unique conifer trees also is recommended for a special-interest area.

Trail System

The management plan also calls for an expanded and improved trail system, opening wide areas of the national forest to recreational use--outside the forest’s crowded picnic areas and campgrounds. For the first time, camping outside of developed campgrounds would be permitted in the Trabuco Ranger District.

More developed recreation facilities are also recommended. A visitor center, picnic area, trails and hiking facilities are planned at Laguna Meadow in the Descanso District, and the Forest Service may cooperate with Orange County to develop regional parks in Black Star and Trabuco canyons.

Also sought are increased areas for off-road vehicle use in San Diego County. The Corral Canyon off-road-vehicle area would be expanded by 50%, and 31 miles would be added to the forest’s 107 miles of off-road vehicle routes. In response to complaints, a map of off-road areas, trails and restrictions was improved.

The plan also urges more prescribed burns. Foresters would burn an average of 6,000 to 7,000 acres annually, to clear old, dense growths of chaparral and allow new growth. The burns would not only reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire but also improve wildlife and fish habitats, the plan states.

Modest increases in the grazing program with environmental safeguards are also proposed. Forest Service officials responded to public concerns about overgrazing by reducing--by nearly a third--their original estimates of the amount of available forage and by tightening restrictions to protect sensitive plant communities. (The Forest Service leases acreage to neighboring ranchers for grazing by sheep and cattle.)

Riparian Habitat Safeguards

The plan also seeks protection of important wildlife habitats around streams and rivers--called “riparian” areas. Off-road vehicles would be prohibited from the banks except at designed crossings, and grazing would not be permitted in these areas.

The plan also would place limits on harvesting chaparral as a potential energy source. “Only experimental harvesting will be conducted to support research until it is shown to be advisable environmentally and ecologically,” the plan says.

An appeal period for the plan closes July 17. The Forest Service has received only one appeal so far, a general protest that wilderness preservation should be a greater priority, King said.

The Sierra Club has not decided if it will file an appeal, aimed at making Sill Hill and Caliente protected wilderness areas, Croker said.