Angeles Forest

The June 6 editorial “Angeles Forest: Loving It to Death” is correct on one point: National forest budgets are rigid and complex, much too rigid and complex.

I live across the road from a Forest Service fire station (Big Tujunga), which is manned 24 hours a day. Adjacent to this fire station is Stoneyvale Picnic Ground, which, due to “budget cuts,” is closed and locked at 6 p.m. even though there’s more than two hours of daylight remaining.

Julie Molzahn, the district recreation officer, says they don’t have any money to pay someone to close the gate at dusk instead of 6 p.m. when many families are in the midst of a picnic dinner. Yet this gate is barely 300 feet from the fire station.

When asked why one of the firemen can’t walk over and lock the gate, Molzahn said, “They’re paid from fire suppression funds, they can’t do ‘recreation’ work.” This scenario is being repeated throughout the forest in an effort to antagonize the public into complaining to their elected representatives and thus gain more funding.

Before the Forest Service starts charging fees, they should lose their bureaucratic rigidity and properly utilize the funds they already have.

TRENT DAVOL SANDERS

Angeles National Forest