Agreement Saves Pack Animal Business

The owner of a team of pack animals that has served cabins in the San Gabriel Mountains for more than 60 years reached an agreement Thursday with the U.S. Forest Service, ending a dispute that had many residents worried the team would be gone by the end of the month.

Kim Kelly, who bought the business last summer, had failed to get a key permit from the Forest Service and was told last week that she would have to stop running the team and vacate the property in Big Santa Anita Canyon, north of Arcadia.

Forest officials had said she did not show the “financial or technical capability to provide the service.”

But Thursday, after meetings with Kelly and cabin owners who rely on the pack animals to transport supplies to rugged parts of the canyon, officials said they had found a solution. The previous owner, Dennis Lonergan, agreed to keep his permit valid and operate the business--at least on paper--appointing Kelly as general manager, officials said.

Kelly promised to remove a trailer and other belongings from the stable area at Chantry Flat but will still live in the cabin and deal with the day-to-day operations, officials said.