Summer heat in L.A. County sends plenty of people to crowded beaches. For me, it means a pleasant escape to cooler, high-altitude air in the mountains.
That almost always involves a trip to federal land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. It’s practically unavoidable: The agency stewards about one-fifth of California’s total land area, including most of the Sierra Nevada. Among its charges is the Angeles National Forest, a mountainous expanse that makes up a quarter of Los Angeles County’s 4,000 square miles.
Golden State gives a special shoutout to Hannah MacLaren and every one of our recent donors. Join these heroes of fearless California journalism by making a tax-deductible donation today!
Federal management of the land has all sorts of implications for fighting wildfires, maintaining ecological health and managing watersheds. But for summer vacationers retreating to the mountains, it means the trees providing shade and the campgrounds providing accommodations are tended to by federal workers who, for lack of a better term, have been abused.