welcome to the · angeles-bizplan.pmd 3 10/30/2003, 2:31 pm. 4 angeles national forest business...

Welcome to theAngeles National Forest

While remainingcommitted to theoriginal mandate

of forest andwatershed

conservation, theAngeles National

Forest must atthe same time

provide for theincreasing needsof public use anddesires for scenic

open space bymillions of forest

visitors each year.

angeles-bizplan.pmd 10/30/2003, 2:31 PM1

2 Angeles National Forest Business Plan

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)prohibits discrimination in all its programs andactivities on the basis of race, color, nationalorigin, gender, religion, age, disability, politicalbeliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familystatus. (Not all prohibited bases apply to allprograms.) Persons with disabilities who requirealternative means for communication of programinformation (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.)should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, writeUSDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and IndependenceAvenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call(202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is anequal opportunity provider and employer.

Angeles National Forest

Supervisor’s Office701 N. Santa Anita Ave.Arcadia, CA 91006(626) 574-5200FAX (626) 574-1613TDD (626) 574-5209

Los Angeles River Ranger District12371 N. Little Tujunga RoadSan Fernando, CA 91342(818) 899-1900FAX (818) 896-6727

Santa Clara/Mojave Rivers Ranger District30800 Bouquet Can. Rd.Saugus, CA 91390(661) 296-9710FAX (661) 296-5847TDD (661) 296-9710

San Gabriel River Ranger District110 N. Wabash Ave.Glendora, CA 91740(626) 335-1251FAX (626) 914-3790TDD (626) 335-1251 Ext. 256

Contact Information:

Printed on recycled paper

Chilao Visitor CenterStar Route 2La Canada, CA 91011(626) 796-5541

Mt. Baldy Schoolhouse VisitorCenterMt. Baldy RoadMt. Baldy, CA 91759(909) 982-2829

Grassy Hollow Visitor CenterHighway 2Wrightwood, CA 92397(626) 821-6737


USDA Forest Service 3

Introduction Table of ContentsIntroduction .................................................... 3

Table of Contents 3

Supervisor’s Foreword 4

Executive Summary 5

Forest Overview 6

Forest Map 8

Historical Context........................................... 9Fund Source Analysis 9

Adjusted Base Budget 11

Increased Cost analysis 12

Analysis of Expenditures 13

Current Forest Operations 14

Resource Management 15

Public Use & Enjoyment 17

Facility Operations & Maintenance 19

Management & Administration 21

Commodity & Commercial Uses 23

Fire Management 25

Wildfire Suppression & National Support 27

Financials ......................................................... 29Summary Financial Statement 29

Priorities & Strategies .......................................... 31Investment Priorities 31

Strategies: Retain Fees 33

Strategies: Maximize Partnerships 35

Strategies: Streamline Asset Management Processes 37

Strategies: Increase Investment in

High Impact Recreation Areas 39

Strategies: Strengthen Urban-Wildland Buffer Zones 41

Acknowledgments ......................................... 43

The purpose of business planning within the USDA ForestService is to improve the abilities of national forests toclearly communicate their financial status to principal stake-holders. A business plan answers such questions as: what isthe business of the forest unit? What critical functions donot occur due to a lack of funding? How much money doesthe forest need to operate at appropriate standards? Thisplan demonstrates the functional responsibilities, operationalstandards, and financial position of the Angeles NationalForest.

The business planning process is undertaken to accomplishthree main tasks. First it provides the forest with a synopsisof the forest’s funding history. Second, it presents a clear,detailed picture of the state of current forest operations andfunding. Finally, it outlines forest priorities and funding andoperational strategies.

A common methodology is applied by all forests developingbusiness plans. Forest activities are organized into sixfunctional areas, which describe all areas of the business forwhich a forest is responsible. The functional areas are thenbroken down into 35 programs. This allows the forest tomove beyond the traditional Forest Service method ofreporting expenditures in terms of fund sources, and insteadreport expenditures in terms of activities. As a result, theforest can communicate its financial situation more clearlywith external audiences. Furthermore, using the same broadprogram structure for all forests provides a needed measureof comparability across all forest units.

Completing the business plan process not only enables aforest to produce a powerful communication tool, but alsoprovides forest management with financial and operationalbaseline knowledge for future decision making.



Supervisor’s Foreword

The Angeles National Forest (ANF) was established onDecember 20, 1892 as the San Gabriel Timberland Re-serve. It was the first forest reserve in California and onlythe fifth in the nation. At that time, the surrounding LosAngeles County had a population of 115,000 people. Thefocus of forest management at that time was protection ofthe watershed for the developing farmlands and towns inthe Los Angeles Basin.

Today, some 110 years later, the population of Los AngelesCounty has grown to nearly 10 million. Projections forfuture growth suggest the county’s population could swellto nearly 13 million by 2020.

As the population has grown during the forest’s century-long history, the amount of open space in Los AngelesCounty has diminished almost as dramatically. At thistime, the Angeles National Forest represents 70% of thecounty’s open space. This space experiences year-round,concentrated use by millions of people each year. This usenot only impacts the land but has the potential to causeconflicts between user groups competing for space.

What all of this means for us as managers is that theAngeles National Forest has become an urban forest – infact, the most urban national forest in the country. In thesimplest terms of supply and demand, it means that we arefaced with a daunting balancing act. While we remaincommitted to the original tenets of forest and watershedconservation, we must at the same time provide for theincreasing public use needs and wants of millions of forestvisitors each year.

Forest funds and staffing have in no way kept pace with theincreased demand for public use of forest resources.Thankfully, volunteer associations in the greater LosAngeles area have played a key role in mitigating this tosome degree. Each year volunteers contribute manythousands of hours to vitally important activities in theforest, such as maintaining trails, hosting campgrounds,staffing visitor centers, and improving wildlife habitat.

Another much needed part of the solution to our shortfallof resources lies in having solid business operations toolsin place that allow us to identify our priorities and strategizeto make the most of our funds and staff. This businessplan is such a tool. An equally important part of thesolution lies in being able to clearly communicate toourselves, our partners, and the public what we do, whereour money comes from, and where it goes. Again, this planhelps us do that.

I want to express my thanks to the National Parks Conser-vation Association for leading us to the threshold ofinnovative and strategic business planning. The end resultof their efforts and this plan is that we are better positionedto close the gap between staff and funding shortages andpublic demand for forest resources. This, in turn, will allowus to better accomplish our mission of “Caring for theLand and Serving People.”

Jody Cook

Forest Supervisor

Forest Supervisor Jody Cook



Executive Summary

Overview of Funding TrendsThe overall budget at the Angeles National Forest (ANF)increased significantly between 1995 and 2002, rising from$13.3 million to $28.9 million. There are two primarycomponents of the ANF’s budget: fire and non-fireoperations. Fire-related budgets have grown substantially,rising from $2.7 million in 1995 to $16.6 million in 2002.Non-fire budgets have not kept pace. Over the same timeperiod, they have grown from $10.7 million to $12.3million, with 62 percent of the growth coming from theANF’s Adventure Pass programs. This has had a signifi-cant impact on the forest’s ability to serve the public in theface of ever-increasing visitation and public use.

Expenditures have closely followed the budget with theexception of Fiscal Year (FY) 2002. In 2002, the foresthad an overall budget of $28.9 million, but spent only$22.4 million. Nearly $5.5 million was withdrawn from theANF’s operating budget by the Forest Service to pay fornationwide fire suppression costs caused by extremewildfires in other parts of the nation. Of this $5.5 million,$2.6 million came out of the ANF’s non-fire budget,resulting in major program restrictions for the last threemonths of the fiscal year.

Overview of OperationsAs part of the business plan effort, ANF managementcarried out a detailed analysis of activities across the forestwith the goal of identifying unfunded program needs.Outside consultants worked with Forest Service manage-ment to ensure that needs were realistic and well-tested.The result was sobering: across the forest the unfundedoperations need was $6.6 million and represented nearly100 full-time equivalents (FTEs) of labor. Moreover,funding gaps were observed in nearly every one of the 35program areas studied in this plan. The shortfalls identified

are not a wish list, but rather represent funding gaps thathave a measurable impact on the ANF’s ability to fulfillcore operations.

Key Investment NeedsANF managers also set out to identify investment needsacross the forest. After generating many ideas, ANFmanagement prioritized a short list of investments. Theseneeds were also substantial, totaling nearly $63 million (ofwhich $50 million represents an unfunded maintenancebacklog). Needed projects range from rebuilding majoradministrative buildings to restoring lake recreationalfacilities and wildlife habitats.

StrategiesGiven current government budget conditions, the likeli-hood of the forest receiving additional federal appropria-tions to close these funding gaps is low. ANF managersidentified a number of innovative strategies that could helpclose some of these gaps, including:

• Retaining special use permit fees for forest use;

• Developing new volunteer programs, interagencypartnerships, and public-private cooperative agreements;

• Streamlining the management of the ANF’sphysical assets;

• Increasing investments in high impact recreation areasusing the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program; and

• Strengthening urban-wildland buffer zones.

These strategies, along with all the data that support them,are explained in great detail in the following plan.

West Fork of the San Gabriel River, one of the

primary rivers draining the higher elevations of

the Angeles National Forest. Copyright Roy

Murphy



Forest Overview

The area that is now known as the Angeles National Forestwas originally set aside for watershed protection in 1892, asthe first timber reserve in California. At that time, PresidentBenjamin Harrison recognized the importance of the landencompassing the San Gabriel Mountains, creating the SanGabriel Timberland Reserve (SGTR) through executiveorder. The order was the first acknowledgement that currentand future residents of Los Angeles would benefit fromforest protection. Today, the forest provides the residents ofLos Angeles County with 35 percent of their drinking waterand 70 percent of their open space.

Physical SettingThe ANF is a land of extremes. The mountains rise upquickly from the lowlands of the Los Angeles Basin to10,064 feet at the top of Mount San Antonio. The moun-tains are steep and fractured, shaped by the periodicviolence of the San Andreas Fault running along theirnorthern boundary. As a result of the wide range ofelevations, the forest experiences tremendous variations inclimate. The lower elevations are often hot and drythroughout the summer, while the mountains remain coolthroughout the year. The highest peaks are often blanketedby snow in the winter.

The ANF contains three separate wilderness areas, protect-ing some of the wildest and most untouched terrain insouthern California. The San Gabriel and Sheep MountainWilderness Areas cover more than 75,000 acres, withelevations that range from 2,400 to 10,000 feet. Theycontain some of the most rugged land in the ANF, includ-ing deep canyons, year-round waterfalls and high mountainpeaks. The Cucamonga Wilderness, co-managed with SanBernardino National Forest, offers another 13,000 acres ofnatural, unspoiled beauty and serves as a link between thelowlands of the Los Angeles basin and the majestic heightsof the Mount San Antonio ridge. These areas offer quietrefuges for both people and animals, as travel is restrictedto foot or horseback.

Fauna & FloraThe ANF’s topography also affects its plant and animal life.Lower elevations of the forest are covered with dense chapar-ral, while the high mountains are blanketed by evergreenforests of pine, fir, and cedar. Beautiful wildflowers and avariety of wildlife can be found throughout the forest. Moun-tain lions and Nelson bighorn sheep roam the mountains andcanyons, while California spotted owls hunt in old-growthforests. The ANF is also a haven for some of the nation’smost endangered species, such as the Least Bell’s vireo and themountain yellow-legged frog.

Scenery & RecreationThe ANF is as diverse in the opportunities it provides for useand enjoyment as it is in appearance and terrain. The AngelesCrest Scenic Byway highlights some of the forest’s mostspectacular features. Mt. Wilson offers views across the LosAngeles basin to the Pacific Ocean. From Mill Creek summiton the north side of the forest the view stretches to Palmdaleand the Mojave Desert beyond. Overlooks above DevilsCanyon near the Chilao Recreation area have panoramic viewsof the San Gabriel Wilderness and Twin Peaks, while Inspira-tion Point on Blue Ridge highlights the rugged peaks and deepcanyons of the Sheep Mountain Wilderness.

The ANF is a place where visitors can camp, hike, mountainbike, ride horses, ski, fish, swim, enjoy water sports, targetshoot, go off-roading, or simply enjoy the beautiful scenery.Its mountains support five ski areas, which include Mt. Baldy,Mountain High, Ski Sunrise, Kratka, and the Mt. Waterman skiareas. Several lakes offer boating and water sports opportuni-ties throughout the year.

For visitor information the forest has four visitor centers:Chilao Visitor Center on state Highway 2, 27 miles northof La Canada; Grassy Hollow Visitor Center on Highway2, 2.5 miles west of Wrightwood; Mt. Baldy SchoolhouseVisitor Center in Mt. Baldy village, north of Claremont;and Vista del Lago Visitor Center off of Interstate 5overlooking Pyramid Lake.

Mt. Baden-Powell

Mountain lions are found throughout the

Angeles National Forest. Copyright Roy

Murphy



With more than 110 campgrounds and picnicking sites inthe forest, visitors to the ANF can choose from a widerange of attractive settings. Campgrounds and picnic areascan be found along sunny streams, under cottonwood andnative live oak trees, and among the stands of tall ever-greens at the higher elevations. Almost 700 miles of hikingtrails wind through the forest. Hikers can follow a portionof the Pacific Crest Trail to the top of Mt. Baden-Powell,or hike the Silver Moccasin Trail made famous by its use asa rite-of-passage for young local Scouts.

The ANF takes part in the innovative southern CaliforniaNational Forests Adventure Pass project, under the Recre-ation Fee Demonstration Program authority. This newprogram reinvests proceeds from recreation fees in visitorservices and facility improvements. Adventure Passes canbe purchased for $5 per day or $30 per year in any ForestService office, or in over 350 businesses throughoutsouthern California. Adventure Pass proceeds fundstructural renovations to improve visitor comfort andsafety, forest cleanup and waste removal, and increasedvisitor information.

Commerce and CommunityThe Angeles hosts over 3.5 million visitors each year,making it one of the most visited national forests in thenation. The ANF’s proximity to urban areas also makes itan attractive site for non- recreational uses. In addition tothe 600 recreation special uses permits, approximately 1,000special use permits are issued for non-recreation usesincluding telecommunications sites, utility corridors, dams,water sources and conveyances and locations for theHollywood film industry. Numerous mines operate in theANF as well. The forest also contributes to local commu-nities in many ways, participating in southern Californiaprograms that provide employment and job training tourban residents from as far away as south Los Angeles.

The amphitheatre at Crystal Lake provides a

beautiful venue for a variety of educational

and recreational programs. Copyright Roy

Murphy

Angeles NF Inventory

General:Acres of Land 655,387Permanent Employees 304

Visitor Resources:Recreational Residences 505Picnic Areas 36Campgrounds 66Visitor Centers 4Information Centers 4Ski Areas 5Entrance Stations 2

Trails:Trailheads 53Trails (miles) 697Off highway Vehicle Areas 3Off highway Vehicle route miles 261

Natural Features:Wilderness Areas 3Wilderness Area (acres) 80,284Lakes and Reservoirs 10Rivers and Streams (miles) 240Sensitive Plant Species 22Sensitive Wildlife Species 23Threatened & Endangered Species 16

Infrastructure:Energy Transmission 46Water Sources and Conveyances 216Dams and Debris Basins 18Research 48Communications 164Miles of Roads 1,032

Enabling LegislationThe Angeles National Forest was

established by Executive Order in

December, 1892 as the first

Timberland Reserve in California.

Mission Statement

The Angeles National Forestprovides watershed protection,open space for learning, andenhanced quality of life.

Within our capabilities, and thoseof our partners, we serve as amodel of resource managementexcellence and customer service,particularly for the people ofsouthern California.

The Angeles workforce promotesa safe and healthy workenvironment.



Angeles National Forest Map



Historical ContextFund Source AnalysisHighlights• The total budget grew at an annual rate of 12 percent

between 1995 and 2002, rising from $13.3 million to$28.9 million. This rise was driven by a 500 percentincrease (30 percent annual rate) in the budget forwildfire preparedness.

• Non-fire budgets at the ANF were roughly flat between1995 and 2002, rising at an annual rate of 2 percentfrom $10.7 million in 1995 to $12.3 million in 2002.

• The wildfire preparedness budget increased from $2.7million in 1995 to $16.6 million in 2002. This equatedto an annual growth rate of 30 percent.

• Revenue generated by the ANF’s Recreational FeeDemonstration Project, the Adventure Pass, has becomean increasingly important source of funds for theforest’s recreation programs, providing $1 million infunding in 2002.

DiscussionOverall funding for the ANF has increased sharply from atotal of $13.3 million in 1995 to a level of $28.9 million in2002. This increase, which accelerated in 2000, is almostwholly driven by higher emphasis on wildfire preparedness,which grew from $2.7 million in 1995 to over $16 millionin 2002. Overall non-fire funding, from which all ofANF’s recreational and resource programs are funded,grew at a much slower rate, rising from $10.7 million to$12.3 million from 1995 to 2002. Over 62% of thisincrease comes from ANF’s Recreation Fee DemonstrationProject, the Adventure Pass.

ANF’s budget is comprised of three main funding sources:appropriations, revenues, and reimbursables. Appropria-tions are allocations made to ANF out of the overall fundsappropriated to the USDA Forest Service from Congress.Revenues are primarily fees paid to the forest by a variety

of user-based programs. Reimbursables are expenses in-curred by ANF which are reimbursed by other entities.These entities range from other branches of the federalgovernment to private and nonprofit organizations. Trendsin each of these sources of funds will be discussed in moredetail below.

Appropriated FundsANF receives the majority of its funds through allocationsof funds appropriated to the USDA Forest Service byCongress. The forest’s appropriations reached their highestlevel ever in 2002—$25.9 million. Of this amount 64percent, or $16.6 million, was budgeted for wildfire prepared-ness, with the remaining 36 percent, or $9.3 million, coveringall other operations. Funding growth rates in these twosegments show similar disparities: between 1995 and 2002,wildfire preparedness budgets grew at a rate of 30 percentper year, while growth in all other program budgets was amuch lower 2 percent.

ANF receives the majority of its funds

through allocations of funds

appropriated to the USDA Forest

Service by Congress.



These differences have been particularly dramatic since2000, when the National Fire Plan was passed as part ofthe 2001 Interior Appropriations Bill. Written in responseto the devastating fires of the 2000 fire season, the planproposed a significant and perpetual increase in funding forwildfire preparedness. As a result of the plan, appropriatedfire budgets grew by almost 75 percent between 2000 and2002, from $9.5 million to $16.6 million. Over the sametime period all other program budgets increased by only 15percent (from $8.1 million to $9.3 million). This change,coupled with the fact that wildfires have become morefrequent and expensive over the past few years, suggest thatwildfire preparedness will become an even bigger portionof ANF’s appropriated budgets in years to come.

Reimbursable FundsAngeles receives funds each year as reimbursements forwork performed by the forest’s staff on behalf of otherorganizations. Often these funds come from other govern-ment agencies. However, a significant portion also comesfrom private and nonprofit organizations that fund activi-ties in the forest, ranging from road closures for televisioncommercials to funding invasive plant removal. Reimburse-ments in 2002 were approximately $1.7 million, and havevaried between $1.2 million (2000) and $2.2 million (1995)since 1995.

RevenueThe forest does not retain the majority of the revenuegenerated by commercial activities and structures in theforest, such as cell phone towers and pipelines. These

proceeds, which totaled $3.6 million in 2002, are depositedin the U.S. Treasury in accordance with existing law.

ANF does receive revenue from a variety of forest pro-grams and users. This source of funding has becomeincreasingly important, as it can be used for a wider rangeof purposes than can reimbursable revenue, and has helpedto supplement appropriated funds. Revenue has risen from$0.3 million in 1995 to $1.4 million in 2002.

The largest single source of revenue comes from ANF’sRecreation Fee Demonstration Project, the Adventure Passprogram, which generated $1,100,000 in revenue in 2002.This innovative program charges a fee for visitors comingto the forest for recreational purposes. All proceeds areused to provide visitor services and maintain public facili-ties beyond what could be accomplished with the forest’sbase budget alone.

The ANF’s Recreation Fee

Demonstration Project, the

Adventure Pass, returns over $1

million to the ANF’s recreation

programs each year

Mt. Baldy Visitor Center.



Adjusted Base Budget

As a forest located within one of the

United States’ largest and fastest-

growing urban areas, Angeles

National Forest faces extreme

demands on public facilities and

services. However, CPI-adjusted

base appropriations for non-fire

functions have remained flat since

1995.

The bulk of ANF’s funding comes from Congressionalappropriations. Revenues and reimbursables can varysignificantly from year to year, while appropriations aremore consistent. Therefore, ANF’s base budget is definedonly as the appropriated portion of funding. Between 1995and 2002 the base budget grew at an annual rate of 13%,from $10.8 to $25.9 million. This does not take intoaccount inflation, which reduces the forest’s buying powerover time. Adjusted for inflation, the overall annual growthrate of ANF’s budget falls to 10.5%.

An examination of trends in fire and non-fire fundingtells a different story. When adjusted for inflation,overall funding grew slowly between 1995 and 2000($10.8 million and $15.5 million in 1995-equivalentdollars, respectively). After 2000, adjusted spendingbegan to increase, fueled entirely by increased alloca-tions for wildfire pre-suppression. Non-fire, ConsumerPrice Index (CPI)-adjusted budgets, which included all

recreational, commercial, resource, facilities operationsand maintenance, and administrative programs, actuallyfell between 1995 and 2002, from $8.1 to $7.9 million in1995 dollars. Fire preparedness has increased across theforest, but other services have suffered during the sameperiod.

The decline in the forest’s purchasing power has affected theforest’s operations. The unfunded maintenance backlogacross the ANF now stands at roughly $50 million. Programdelays exist in many areas, including wildlife management,heritage resource protection, and vegetation management.Forest managers must leave many vacant positions unfilled,resulting in a loss of capability in certain functions.

The forest has acted aggressively to address these shortfalls.The Adventure Pass program has been a success, andcontributes badly needed funding to the forest’s publicprograms. Additional initiatives are under development.



As outlined in the previous section, the only portion ofANF’s base budget that has grown in recent years is theamount allocated to wildfire preparedness. When adjustedfor inflation, the remainder of the base budget has actuallyfallen slightly since 1995. Another factor has also inhibitedthe ANF’s ability to fulfill its mission: continuously increas-ing costs outside of the forest’s control. On top of adeclining non-fire budget, many of ANF’s programs havesuffered from decreased purchasing power due to theseincreasing costs. The key cost drivers are detailed below.

Fire impacts on non-fire operationsThe increasing frequency and severity of wildfires in recentyears has increased costs in recreation and facilities opera-tions and maintenance programs. Severe wildfires leave atrail of destruction in their wake. While emergency fundsare available after fires for measures to prevent erosion,thereby limiting additional damage, no extra funding isavailable to replace lost facilities. As a result, forest-ownedcampgrounds, bridges, water systems, and buildings de-stroyed by fire must be replaced from regular appropria-tions. Subsequently, funding for previously plannedmaintenance and upkeep is reduced.

Increasing rents, utilities, and material pricesThe California economy experienced an unprecedentedboom in the 1990s. As a result, rents and prices for manybasic services increased faster than the rate of inflation. Inaddition, California has some of the nation’s highest fuelprices, and experienced sharp increases in power prices in2000 and 2001 as a result of the California power crisis.The result is that forest spending on rent, communications,and utilities grew by more than 100 percent between 1995

Increased Cost Analysis

and 2002, far outpacing the 30 percent growth in thenumber of personnel.

Increasing wage competitionThe booming economy of the 1990s also led to thecreation of many high-paying jobs in the Los Angelesbasin. Coupled with the high cost of living in Los Angeles,external salary growth contributed to higher-than-normalattrition and greater difficulty in filling vacant positions atthe ANF. Lost investments in training, higher overtimecharges, and higher job-search costs followed.

IT investments and system changesThe Forest Service has implemented a number of technol-ogy and financial system upgrades since 1995. Theseinclude:

• The 1998 transition from a mainframe computer systemto personal computers.

• The transition from the Central Accounting System(CAS) to the Foundation Financial Information System(FFIS) in 2000.

• The implementation of the INFRA property manage-ment system in 2000.

While all of these upgrades should lead to lower long-term costs and improved accountability, significantexpenditures were made to complete these projectsbetween 1995 and 2002.

An historic cabin burned during the Williams

Fire in 2002. Severe wildfires have destroyed

many structures over the past several years.



The Forest Service and its forest units are required by lawto adhere to annual budgets. A severe fire year in 2002highlighted the difficulties this can cause.

The Forest Service quickly spent most of its nationalbudget for wildfire suppression. In order to balance itsyear-end accounts, Forest Service leadership decided to pullportions of unspent funding from all other Forest Serviceprograms to fund continued nationwide wildfire suppres-sion activities. $5.5 million (nearly 20 percent of the totalbudget) was pulled from ANF’s remaining funds throughJune and July, effectively shutting down non-essentialservices for the summer months. This withdrawal coupled,with several other less significant factors, meant that the

Analysis of Expenditures

ANF under spent its FY 02 budget by more than $6 millionin 2002. The ANF also tracks expenditures by category.The main categories are: salary & benefits, services, sup-plies, rent, communications, utilities, fleet, travel, andtraining.

As a percentage of ANF’s overall spending, these catego-ries have remained fairly constant over time, with theexception of a rise in spending on services from 1998 to2001, and increasing utility costs as discussed in the previ-ous section. The increase in spending on services wasprimarily due to the increased use of outside contractors toperform facilities maintenance, along with service contractsassociated with ANF’s forest-wide planning effort.

Firefighter watches a plume rise from the

Williams Fire as it burns in the San Dimas

Experimental Forest.



The operational functions of the forest have beenbroken down into six functional areas to facilitateanalysis. These six functional areas are:• Resource Management• Public Use & Enjoyment• Facility Operations & Maintenance• Management & Administration• Commodity & Commercial Uses• Fire ManagementThese functional areas are broken down further into35 different program areas (see below) that moreprecisely describe the forest’s operations. Theprogram descriptions are general in nature to ensurethat all activities of the forest are encompassed inthese 35 program areas. Information for the busi-ness plan was compiled through the use of inter-

views and analysis with forest staff directly involvedin the completion of program activities. The goal ofthis data collection is to create an understanding ofthe financial and operational needs of each program.Information collected includes a description of day-to-day activities of the associated program area, andoperational standards that describe the duties andresponsibilities required to adequately satisfy criticalfunctions of the program. The program standardsare then used to determine financial resources neededfor the program area—in terms of personnel andnon-labor expenses—that are necessary to performthe critical tasks of the program.A critical step in this process is the allocation ofavailable forest personnel among the 35 programs inorder to establish the extent to which staff resourceswere available to each program. In this process

Current Forest Operationspersonnel are measured in terms of full-time equiva-lents (FTEs), or the fraction that a person works of aregular, full-time calendar year (2088 hours). Theseresources are then compared to the actual expendi-tures and estimates of the number of FTEs requiredto properly run a program.By comparing a program’s operational standards toavailable program resources, resource shortfalls canbe identified. The costs and justifications for closingthese funding gaps is the final element of the detailsheets. The strategies found in the final section ofthis plan were developed to address the shortfallsidentified in the program areas.This section examines in detail each of the sixfunctional areas of ANF and the programs withinthem. The analysis was performed using financialdata from Fiscal Year 2002.

Resource ManagementVegetation ManagementLand Ownership and AdjustmentHeritage Resources ManagementWildlife ManagementWatershed, Soil and Air ManagementSpecial Designation AreasData Management

Public Use & EnjoymentConcessions and Recreation Special UsesInterpretive Services and Visitor CentersRecreation Revenue CollectionLaw EnforcementVisitor Safety and Protection

Facility Operations & MaintenanceConcentrated Use AreasTrailsBuildings and GroundsCampgrounds and Developed SitesRoadsTransportation and Fleet

Management & AdministrationGeneral ManagementDistrict ManagementGeneral AdministrationFinancial ManagementInformation Technology/TelecommunicationsPlanningPublic Affairs

Commodity & Commercial UsesNon-Recreational Special UsesMineralsForest ProductsTimberGrazing

Fire ManagementFire Management and AdministrationPre-Suppression and PreparednessHazardous Fuels ReductionWildfire SuppressionNational Fire and Disaster Support

Functional and Program Areas



Resource ManagementResource Management in the Angeles National Forestencompasses activities related to the management, preser-vation, and protection of the forest’s natural and culturalresources. Wildlife management staff work to monitor andprotect the many endangered and threatened species foundwithin the forest’s boundaries. Vegetation management iscarried out to protect critical habitats, to reduce fire anderosion risks, and to replant burned or otherwise damagedvegetation. ANF foresters are also launching new foresthealth initiatives to counteract the damage caused by recentdrought conditions and bark beetle infestations. Heritageresource staff work to protect the forest’s archeological andhistoric resources. Watershed, soil and air managementpersonnel work to protect and monitor air, water, and soilresources throughout the forest and surrounding area.Special designation areas and land ownership and adjust-ment staff work on programs to protect and enhance thegeographic integrity of forest lands. Finally, data manage-

ment allows forest personnel to analyze and store all datacollected as part of these various programs.

In 2002, the ANF spent $1.1 million on resource manage-ment, but also experienced a number of shortfalls. Addi-tional funding of $945,000, in support of an additional 13FTEs, is required to fully fund this function area.

Land Ownership and AdjustmentLand Ownership and Adjustment had the largest fundingdeficit within this functional area, totaling $427,000 in2002. This program is responsible for maintaining theforest’s property records, completing land transactions, andsurveying and protecting the boundaries. The forest has600 miles of boundary, only 100 of which have beenresurveyed and marked since the late 1800s. The program’scurrent staff of two is insufficient to deal with the backlogof survey needs and an ever-increasing number of forestboundary encroachments by private landowners. Today,there are an estimated 5,000 such encroachments. Theseencroachments degrade the quality of forest land and

Limber pine at the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell.

The oldest limber pines are over 2,000 years

old.



possibly result in removal from the public domain.

In addition, many opportunities exist to purchase privatelands to further protect critical forest resources. At currentfunding levels, ANF staff cannot pursue all opportunitiesthat would benefit the public. An additional $427,000, tosupport 6 FTEs, would allow the forest to post its entireboundary within ten years, while also proactively managingland acquisitions and land ownership conflicts.

Heritage Resource ManagementThe work of the Heritage Resource Management programis to protect significant heritage resources in the forest and,make it available to the public, and contribute relevantinformation and perspectives to natural resource manage-ment. Under various agreements with the California StateHistoric Preservation Office and the Advisory Council onHistoric Preservation, the Angeles has agreed to provideheritage support to other resource-related projects in theforest (Section 106 of the National Historic PreservationAct), and also to develop a sound overall program for themanagement of the forest’s heritage resources (Section 110of NHPA). The majority of staff time is currently dedi-cated to the former activity. Additional funding of$153,000 is required to fully staff efforts in support ofSection 110 requirements.

Wildlife ManagementWildlife management staff at the Angeles engage in threeprimary activities: carrying out projects associated withmonitoring and preserving key species, providing NationalEnvironmental Policy (NEPA) documentation and otherenvironmental analyses support to non-wildlife forestprojects, and completing wildlife monitoring activitiesassociated with legal requirements and forest plan imple-mentation. Additional funding will allow ANF biologiststo increase monitoring in preparation for the implementa-tion of the ANF’s Land and Resources Management Planrevision, which will be completed in 2004 or 2005.

Threatened and EndangeredSpecies in Angeles NationalForestThe ANF provides critical habitat fora wide range of both plant andanimal threatened and endangered(T&E) species. Today, the forestshelters 16 federally listed T&Eplants and animals, with another 45species listed as sensitive by theRegional forester. These numbers areup from the 4 listed endangeredspecies and 11 sensitive speciesidentified in the Forest Plan issuedin 1987.

Many of these species are found infew other places. The ANF is acritical habitat for the arroyo toad,mountain yellow- legged frog,California red-legged frog, andseveral species of fish. Sensitivespecies such as the California spottedowl and Nelson bighorn sheep arealso found in numbers here.

Over the next few years, the numberof listed and sensitive species identi-fied in ANF lands is expected togrow as their numbers diminishelsewhere. At the same time, humanpopulation trends suggest thatvisitation and public use of the forestwill increase significantly over thenext ten years. Balancing the increas-ing pressure on endangered specieswith the increasing demands forpublic use will be a key challengefacing forest leadership in the future.

Other Program AreasThe remaining unfunded needs in Watershed, Air, and SoilManagement ($93,000), Special Designation Areas($70,000), and Data Management ($31,000) are all associ-ated with specific positions. The watershed and soilmanagement function currently lacks a soils scientist. Themanagement and analysis of soils is a critical component ofthe post-fire rehabilitation of burned areas. It is performedto avoid damaging erosion and to restore watersheds andvegetation.

The ANF also lacks a volunteer coordinator within theSpecial Designation Areas program. Hiring a coordinatorwould enable the forest to recruit and manage volunteerswho could perform much of the maintenance, monitoring,interpretation, and patrol work needed in wilderness areasat a significant cost savings.

A mountain yellow-legged frog in an ANF creek. Estimates suggest

that less than 100 individuals of this species exist in the wild in

southern California.



The Public Use & Enjoyment functional area includes allactivities related to providing visitors a safe, enjoyable andeducational experience. It includes in-forest concessionsmanagement, all interpretive services, visitor center man-agement, interpretive media, revenue collection, lawenforcement services and visitor safety and protection.

In 2002, the ANF spent $2.3 million to fund the programsin this functional area. This funding level left gaps in everyprogram. Additional funding of $1.5 million to support 23FTEs is required to fully fund this functional area.

Concessions and Recreation Special UsesThe ANF manages approximately 600 recreation specialuse permits, including 4 concession campground com-plexes, two concession target shooting areas, five ski areas,a marina, 26 organization camps, and over 500 summerhomes. The forest also administers numerous recreationevents, such as mountain bike events and car rallies.

The major shortfalls in this program are related to plan-ning, permit administration, reviewing concession prospec-tuses and fee offset agreements, and oversight activitiessuch as auditing and annual inspections. Most of theseshortfalls can be attributed to long-term vacancies in keypositions and the resulting backlog of work.

The forest received an additional $719,000 in 2002 toaddress the permit backlog in recreation special uses. Ifthis funding is secured and all vacancies are filled, the forestcould eliminate the backlog by FY06. If current fundinglevels are maintained, the ANF will be able to run theprogram to standard with two exceptions: a special usesadministrator is needed to conduct oversight, and anotherFTE is needed to evaluate permits and correspond in atimely manner with permit holders.

Interpretative Services and Visitor CentersThe overall mission of the interpretive services, visitorcenters and education program is to forge intellectualand emotional connections between people and their

natural and cultural heritage. The primary focus of thisprogram is public service communication. The ANFuses a variety of media to deliver information on recre-ational opportunities, stewardship responsibilities such asheritage and wilderness protection, and in-depth topicsof public interest.

Due to staffing limitations and program priorities, Interpre-tive Services and Education has focused on staffing visitorcenters using employees and volunteers. Staff membershave attempted to provide additional public programsthrough partnerships with external organizations.

The major shortfalls in this program are in the maintenanceof interpretive exhibits, the ability to provide face-to-facecontact between forest staff and visitors, and the oversightand evaluation of interpretive programs as measuredthrough both customer feedback and comparisons to theinterpretive services plan.

In order for this program to meet operational standards, anadditional 10 FTEs are needed at a cost of $729,000. The

Public Use & Enjoyment

Grassy Hollow Visitor Center, located in the

Santa Clara / Mojave Rivers Ranger District.



additional FTEs will allow the forest to add two positionsin interpretive project management, six to provide on-the-ground support in each of ANF’s three ranger districts, andan additional two positions at the busiest recreation destina-tion, the San Gabriel Canyon.

Recreation Revenue CollectionRecreation revenue collection in the four national forests insouthen California is a highly successful component of thenational Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. Fees arecollected from forest visitors who park a vehicle and usethe forest for recreation purposes. The fees are collectedusing two primary methods: decentralized sales of theNational Forest Adventure Pass for parking and receiving“basic” benefits and services; and on-site sales for “ex-panded” benefits and services, such as overnight camp-grounds and special tours.

On the ANF, Adventure Pass revenues provided over$1,100,000 in 2002 for maintenance and repairs, visitorinformation and education, new and improved facilities, law

enforcement, resource protection and wildlife enhance-ment. Adventure Pass revenues also contributed topartnerships and volunteer projects, leveraging these fundsfor even higher value to the public.

Additional funding would enable the hiring of,additionalsales staff at high-use public areas to ensure greateravailability of the Adventure Pass as well as additionalforest protection officers who would increase permitcompliance.

Law EnforcementThis program includes specific law enforcement effortsthat extend beyond the basic scope of visitor safety, suchas illegal drug eradication and criminal investigations. Lawenforcement officers (LEOs) detect and respond tocrimes, provide security for personnel and facilities, andwork closely with other federal, state and municipal lawenforcement agencies such as sheriffs’ departments andthe California Highway Patrol.

Current staffing is not sufficient to cover an area the sizeof ANF. An additional three LEOs, costing $293,000 willbring response to all reported crimes up to 98 percent.

Visitor Safety and ProtectionVisitor safety and protection includes a broad range ofactivities designed to protect visitors, employees, and forestresources. Forest protection officers or FPOs, are the firstline in providing visitor safety. They are members of ANFstaff who hold other forest positions but who havereceived special training in law enforcement. They act asthe eyes and ears for the LEOs, and call them in whenevermore serious issues arise. Their main duties are publiccontact and writing violations; they are trained to avoidpotentially violent situations, leaving these to the LEOs.There are large shortfalls identified in this program arearelated to public assistance, investigations, andenforcement.

Concentrated Use AreasDuring the summer thousands ofpeople visit the Angeles NationalForest to escape the heat in its shadycanyons and cool waterways. Estab-lished recreation areas fill up quickly.Rather than leave the forest, mostpeople simply park alongside theroad and seek the closest access towater or shade.

While this use is understandable, ithas many negative impacts on theforest’s health and scenic value.These concentrated use sites areoften far away from trash cans andrestrooms, and trash is left behind.Vegetation and stream banks areoften degraded as people make theirown paths from the road to primespots. Some of these areas arehabitat for ANF’s most endangeredspecies.

While the ANF attempts to protectthese areas with funding fromappropriations and its AdventurePass program, current levels are notnearly enough to maintain them.The ANF seeks an additional $1.9million to manage these sites inaccordance with the needs of all whobenefit from use of them. With thepopulation of southern Californiaprojected to grow by 30% over thenext 20 years, usage will increase withtime. Concentrated Use Area along the San Gabriel River during Labor

Day Weekend 2001.



Facility Operations & Maintenance

The Angeles National Forest possesses a huge number offacilities and structures spread across its 655,000 acresOver 1,600 miles of roads and 697 miles of trails cross theforest. In addition, more than 650 buildings, 66 camp-grounds, and 36 picnic areas dot the landscape. Tooperate the forest and to fight wildfires, the ANF operatesa fleet of 300 vehicles. Despite these facilities, the forest isoften overwhelmed with visitors after winter snows, orduring summer when thousands of people look to escapethe heat of the Los Angeles Basin. These visitors oftenspill over into undeveloped concentrated use areas alongstreams and popular gathering points.

Management and maintenance of these facilities is a costlyand complex task that absorbed $6.1 million in operatingcosts in 2002 and required the support of 44 FTEs. How-ever, an additional 52 FTEs and $3.7 million is required tomaintain and operate facilities at appropriate levels.

Concentrated Use AreasConcentrated use areas are locations throughout the forestwhere large groups of people recreate outside of estab-lished recreational facilities. These locations are oftenalong rivers and streams with easy road access, and lack thetrash receptacles, restrooms, and other facilities found atdeveloped sites. This lack of facilities, combined withheavy use, results in significant degradation of these sitesfrom litter, vegetation loss, erosion, and graffiti.

In 2002, the ANF dedicated 7.0 FTEs and $544,000 tocleaning up and rehabilitating concentrated use areas. Tocounter the damage caused by this heavy use, a majorincrease in funding of $1.9 million to support 26 addi-tional FTEs is needed.

TrailsThe Angeles National Forest has an extensive network oftrails, including large sections of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Trail maintenance work consists of clearing, inspecting,constructing and marking trails.

In 2002, the ANF spent $519,000 on trail maintenance,requiring 6.3 FTEs of labor. An additional $528,000 and 8.6FTEs are needed to keep trails maintained at appropriatelevels. The additional funding would pay for a trail crew,support for more off-highway vehicle (OHV) trail work, andthe addition of a trails manager/volunteer coordinator.

Buildings and GroundsOver 650 buildings are maintained throughout the forest.These range from restroom facilities at campgrounds to firestations to administrative offices. Spending on thesefacilities falls into two categories: maintenance and capitalimprovements. Maintenance will be covered below; capitalimprovements will be covered in the Investments section ofthis plan.

ANF spent $1.2 million maintaining buildings and groundsin 2002. Work was supervised and performed by eight

Chilao Visitor Center along the Angeles Crest

Highway.



The Use of Cost SavingMaterials In New ConstructionProjectsThe ANF has been making efforts toreduce maintenance costs across theforest through the use of cost savingmaterials. One of the initiativesstarted by the Facilities Operations &Maintenance group is the construc-tion of all new bridges out ofconcrete rather than wood.

While the spans of these bridges aretypically longer than similar woodenbridges and thus more expensive, theprojected life of a concrete bridge istwice that of a comparable woodenbridge. Concrete bridges are muchless susceptible to fire, which hasdestroyed each wooden bridge in theforest once every 10-15 years onaverage. They are also much lessprone to damage from rot, weather,and heavy use, which generally resultin the replacement of wood bridgedecks once every twenty years. Thisyields a potential savings of $125,000over the life of a concrete bridge ascompared to one constructed out ofwood.

The ANF is exploring manysimilar initiatives throughout itsfacilities program.

FTEs. Due to insufficient funding and difficulties inhiring, the ANF has not been able to keep up with routinemaintenance for a number of years. Accordingly, ANFcurrently faces a $50 million maintenance backlog, referredto as deferred maintenance.

A backlog of this size can only be corrected by a sizeableinvestment program, which will be discussed later in thisplan. The addition of five FTEs and funding for subcon-tractors (costing $444,000) will ensure that annual mainte-nance obligations are met, thereby preventing the backlogfrom growing any larger.

Campgrounds and Developed SitesANF operates 66 campgrounds with over 1,100 individualcampsites and an additional 36 picnic areas. Activitiesinclude trash collection, cleaning, maintenance of equip-ment, monitoring of water systems, and others associatedwith keeping the facilities clean, safe, and in good repair.

Angeles dedicated $771,000 and 9.1 FTEs to campgroundsin 2002. An additional $457,000 and 6.7 FTEs are needed.Current staffing is not sufficient to ensure that sites areclean, graffiti- and trash-free. Additional funding for 6.7FTEs would allow most of this work to be completed, andwould enable ANF to add a volunteer coordinator whocould identify and manage volunteer groups interested inassisting in campground restoration.

RoadsA large road network, maintained by several differentagencies, crisscrosses the Angeles. The California Depart-ment of Transportation has responsibility for the two mostheavily used routes, Highway 2 and Highway39. Various

other sections are maintained by Los Angeles County andlocal city governments. Still, over 1,000 miles of roads arethe responsibility of the Forest Service.

The forest spent $618,000 and devoted 7.4 FTEs to roadinspection and maintenance in 2002. Nonetheless, themaintenance backlog for roads increased, indicating that allscheduled work was not completed. An additional roadscrew would fill this gap. This would require an additional$260,000 and 4.3 FTEs.

Transportation and FleetThe forest maintains a fleet of vehicles to perform generalforest work as well as to respond to wildfires. The forestpays for this fleet by charging other forest programs forvehicle use. These funds are used both to repair existingequipment and to purchase new equipment. Total expendi-tures on maintenance (excluding investments in newvehicles) and personnel were $2.4 million in 2002. SixFTEs supported fleet activities.

The Transportation and Fleet program has always reliedupon a combination of in-house and contract work tomaintain vehicles adequately. However, delays in outsourcedrepairs led to excessive lost time by equipment users in 2002.To remedy this situation, ANF needs to secure funding foran additional mechanic inspector who would increase theforest’s ability to manage outsourced repairs.



Management and Administration encompasses forest-wide leader-ship activities of the forest supervisor, deputy forest supervisor,and district rangers. It also includes the administrative, humanresources, finance, and information technology functions thatprovide support for all of the forest’s employees and operations.Finally, forest planning and public affairs are also included in thisfunctional area. In 2002, the number of forest staff dedicated tomanagement and administration work totaled 37.5 FTEs. Analysisof the ANF’s management and administration program identified ashortfall of $424,000 and 8 FTEs.

The business plan breaks down this functional area into thefollowing programs.

General ManagementThe general manager of ANF is the forest supervisor. The supervi-sor, together with the deputy supervisor and direct support staff, isresponsible for the overall management of the forest’s resourcesand for representing the forest to other organizations. Theseresponsibilities include short and long range planning, direction andoversight of all operations, and integrating programs across theforest. There are no unfunded needs in this program.

District ManagementThe ANF is divided into three ranger districts oriented aroundwatershed boundaries: the San Gabriel River Ranger District, theLos Angeles River Ranger District, and the Santa Clara/MojaveRivers Ranger District. A district ranger oversees all of the pro-grams and staff specific to that district, and maintains relationshipswith local communities and organizations. This program onlycovers the management-related activities of the district rangers andtheir direct support. Most other district activities and personnel arecovered under the other program areas discussed in this planaccording to the type of function they serve. There are no un-funded needs in this program.

General AdministrationGeneral Administration represents the largest portion of spendingwithin the Management and Administration functional area. Thisprogram covers a fairly wide range of support functions at theANF: human resources, equal opportunity, internal customerservice, administrative support, and many of the administrativenon-personnel expenses such as office supplies, equipment andvarious service contracts. In 2002, spending was $1.5 million, witha staff of 8.5 FTEs.

General Administration requires an additional $195,000 and 3.5FTEs to properly staff the human resources and equal opportunitygroups. Currently, these groups can only respond to the mosturgent and critical requests due to understaffing, resulting in workbacklogs and low levels of support to other forest managers.These additional 3.5 FTEs would allow the forest to be moreproactive in its outreach and recruitment efforts to under-repre-sented communities.

Management & Administration



Financial ManagementFinancial Management at the ANF covers several keyactivities, including budget preparation, expendituretracking, payments processing, and contract management.Financial Management also provides information to forestmanagers to support decision-making. Total spending onthis program in 2002 was $371,000, with 5 FTEs available.

The Forest Service’s Washington Office has recently issuedguidance on the desired organizational structure forfinancial management at national forests. Two unfundedpositions are required for Angeles to meet this proposal: abudget officer to oversee the annual budgeting process, anda property technician to assist in the management of high-value purchasing transactions.

Information Technology/TelecommunicationsThe Information Technology/Telecommunications (IT)program can be divided into two main categories: general ITand computer-related services, and specialized support of theforest’s radio and microwave networks. IT personnel areresponsible for the purchase and maintenance of all forestcomputer and networking equipment. IT personnel alsosupport an extensive tower-based microwave radio networkfor use in forest management, fieldwork, and firefighting. Atpresent there are no unfunded needs in this program.

PlanningThe Planning program coordinates the ANF’s contribu-tions to the Forest Land and Resources Management Planrevision (scheduled to be completed in 2004 or 2005). Inaddition, there is an Inventory and Monitoring subprogramof Planning which involves monitoring and tracking ofhabitat suitable for threatened and endangered species.These activities are part of the implementation effort ofthe Forest Plan.

$192,000 and 2.1 FTEs were dedicated to the program in

2002. These numbers are likely to change significantly oncethe revised Forest Plan is adopted. The only unfundedneed in Planning lies in the Inventory and Monitoringsubprogram. This shorftall was discussed previously in theResource Management section of this plan.

Public AffairsBecause urban areas surround the forest,Public Affairsstaff at the ANF perform an unusually wide range ofactivities. The Public Affairs Office must interact withmany different entities on a regular basis, including city,county, state and tribal governments, community groups,nonprofit organizations, and the news media. Public Affairsalso coordinates the forest’s interactions with state lawmak-ers and congressional representatives who are interested inthe forest’s operations. During major wildfires, PublicAffairs personnel coordinate press briefings and provideinformation to the media. A tribal relations specialistconducts outreach and to Native American groups with tiesto the forest. The key forest managers—the forest supervi-sor and the district rangers—also spend a significantportion of their time on public affairs activities. That timeis included within this program.

The ANF dedicated $561,000 and 8.3 FTEs to PublicAffairs in 2002. This was not sufficient to meet all of thedemands placed on Public Affairs. An additional FTE isneeded to focus on media relations.

ANF staff explains planning options to the

public during a community open house.



This functional area includes all activities related to thenon-recreational use of forest resources and lands.Examples of such uses include mining, telecommunica-tions, power transmission, petroleum pipelines, astronomi-cal observation, and the extraction of various forestproducts such as stones, yucca stalks, and firewood. Inaddition, the ANF issues permits for intermittent usessuch as motion picture filming and still photography.

While many national forests are the sites of large-scaletimber and grazing operations, commercial activity in theAngeles National Forest is focused on recreation andindustrial land use. There are no timber or grazingoperations in the ANF.

In 2002, the ANF spent $424,000 to permit and monitorthe activities described in this functional area. An addi-tional $43,000 to support 0.6 FTEs is required to fullyfund this program.

Non-Recreation Special UsesNon-Recreation Special Uses receives the majority offunding in this functional area. Given the forest’s proxim-ity to Los Angeles County’s 10 million people, its land is inhigh demand for electronics sites, transmission lines,pipelines, roads, reservoirs, apiaries and film shoots. InFY 02, the ANF administered approximately 1,000 non-recreation special use permits which generated $1.9 millionfor the U.S. treasury.

Prior to FY 02, underfunding of this program caused alarge special use permit review backlog to develop. In FY02 the forest received an additional $581,000 to addressthis backlog. If this funding is maintained and vacantpositions are filled, the forest will be able to address thebacklog by FY 06, and maintain the program to standard,

with one exception; an additional 0.3 FTEs will be neededto evaluate design proposals and assist with data manage-ment.

MineralsThe forest’s minerals program strives to manage mineralexploration and production in a manner consistent withresource protection, and to provide for the reclamation oflands where mining has occurred. In addition, forestmineral managers seek to ensure that all mineral operationsare operated in accordance with existing regulations.

The primary shortfall in Minerals is inventory administra-tion, planning, reviews of sales, and oversight of large

Commodity & Commercial Uses

Telecommunications towers on an ANF

mountaintop are operated under special use

permits.



operations. Most mineral operations in the forest aremanaged by the Los Angeles River Ranger District. One-third of an FTE remains unfunded in this area for projectoversight and permit compliance.

Forest ProductsWhile large-scale timber operations in the forest werehalted in the early 1900’s, the ANF accommodates low-levelconsumption of various forest products by the public.Examples of forest products sought within the AngelesNational Forest include plants and fuel wood. Occasionally,forest products are generated as by-products of otherforest activities such as vegetation thinning and fire protec-tion. Currently there are no unfunded needs in this pro-gram area.

Film Permits in the AngelesNational ForestThe ANF’s proximity to LosAngeles and its scenic beautycombine to give it a starring role inmany Hollywood productions.

In FY 02 the forest issued 79permits for motion picture andtelevision filming, and an additional24 permits for still photography.These permits generated $54,120 inpermit fees. An additional $39,630was brought in via collectionagreements for services associatedwith the film permits that the forestprovided, such as security, trashcollection, road closures and extrafire patrols.

20% of the $54,120 collected infilm permit fees was used to pay foradministering the permits. Theremaining 80% was available toimprove service.

Congress has allowed forest unitsto retain fees from film permits.These fees are used to protectforest resources and to providebetter service to permit holders.This funding can used forinterpretive brochures, to supportNEPA planning, and beautificationof the forest.

Examples of forest products sought within the Angeles

National Forest include plants and fuel wood.

Film Shoot in the forest.



Fire Management includes all activities related to firefighting preparation, reductions of fire hazards such asbrush removal, and public education concerning fireprevention and safety.

In 2002, the ANF spent $10.8 million to support theactivities of this program. This level of funding com-prised 36% of total ANF expenditures (excluding wildfiresuppression and national disaster support), and is themost spent on any of the forest’s functional areas. Addi-tional funding of $70,000 and an extra 1.1 FTEs arerequired to fully fund this program. This unfunded needis in the Hazardous Fuels Reduction program.

Fire Management and AdministrationThe Fire Management and Administration group providessupervision and oversight of all fire management opera-tions, including budgeting, planning, general supervision,scheduling, and administration. It also includes theformulation and administration of fire management andsafety plans.

The Fire Management and Administration group alsomanages the forest’s communications systems and dis-patch staff. This system consists of wired and wirelesscommunications infrastructure serving the entire forest.It is responsible for 24-hour emergency and routinecommunications service for the forest.

Fire Pre-Suppression & PreparednessThe Fire Management group is responsible for bothprotection of natural resources and improvements withinthe forest. Fire assets consist of 28 fire engine companies,6 water tenders, 5 twenty- person regular handcrews, 5call-when-needed handcrews, 2 helicopters, 1 air tankerbase, 15 fire prevention personnel, 8 dispatchers, and atraining center. Primary preparedness activities includefire prevention, training, maintenance of fire suppressionequipment, and facilities maintenance.

Prevention consists of three basic functions: education,engineering and enforcement. Education includes SmokeyBear programs to instill a fire safety ethic in school chil-dren. Engineering includes abatement of fire hazardsalong roadways and in high use areas. Enforcementincludes the execution of state law regarding fire hazardabatement around public and private structures.

Vacant positions hamper the Pre-Suppression & Prepared-ness program. In addition, housing for personnel isinsufficient and affects recruitment. Funding for fire

Fire Management

Firefighters conducting a meeting before

commencing firefighting operations.



station repairs and improvements is inadequate tomeet current needs.

Hazardous Fuels ReductionHazardous Fuels Reduction involves clearing densebrush and dead trees from areas where they pose asignificant threat to human life and property, andalso where they interfere with the health of naturalfire-adapted ecosystems. It involves direct manage-ment of vegetation using prescribed fire, mechanical,manual, or chemical methods. These efforts requirethe coordination of resource specialists, localgovernments, communities and contractors.

Most of the operational shortfalls in this programarea are related to the program’s planning activities.A NEPA coordinator is needed to prepare hazardousfuelsreduction plans.

The program also lacks a professional to encouragecommunity involvement in the formulation ofhazardous fuels reduction plans. Many communitiesabut the boundaries of the forest, making it verydifficult to create fuel breaks, perform prescribedburns, or thin vegetation between the forest andsurrounding communities. An officer is needed towork with local fire departments and other commu-nity agencies to bolster community involvement inthe protection of communities at risk from forestfires.

An example of a fuel break cut to prevent the

spread of a wildfire.

Angeles National Forest firefighters work with cooperators on the

Williams Fire



Wildfire SuppressionPreparedness and fire management activities are set in placeto prepare fire personnel for the inevitable duty of fightingfires. In FY02, the Angeles spent $37.4 million and utilizedover 56 FTEs to fight more than 100 fires within ANF.Most fires are contained to ten acres and do not causemuch damage outside of the original ignition area. How-ever, in FY 02 three major fires broke out in the Angelesand burned more than 72,000 acres.

Fires are fought on the ground with engines, handcrews,and machinery, and from the air with helicopters and airtankers. Physical barriers are used to slow the fire progressso fires can be more effectively contained. Once the fire iscontained, damage caused by the fire suppression effort ismitigated by a team of specialists as part of the BurnedArea Emergency Response (BAER).

Air support services are critical in suppressing fires but arealso very costly. Hourly flight rates for helicopters andairtankers are $1,127 per hour and $1,844 per hour respec-tively. Airfleet service costs totaled $6.1 million in FY02,16 percent of the total fire suppression budget.

Fire suppression is a massive effort that requires thecoordination of large numbers of employees, provisions,lodging and supply systems. Non-fire personnel are oftencalled upon to support fire fighting in the form of adminis-trative and logistical support. A typical ratio of fire to non-fire personnel is 13 to 1.

National Fire and Disaster SupportAll firefighting within the ANF is viewed as local anddescribed under the Wildfire Suppression program. Inaddition to local firefighting, ANF fire personnel arefrequently called to fight fires in other forests, which is theprimary activity captured under this program. In additionto supporting fire fighting operations elsewhere, other

assignments that fall under the National Support programcome via the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA). Past assignments have included responses toearthquakes, floods, hurricanes, the September 11 attacks,and recovery of the Columbia Space Shuttle debris.

Non-Fire Personnel Time and Fire BorrowingFY02 was a very bad year for forest fires across the coun-try. As with any government agency, the Forest Service isnot allowed to spend beyond its budgets. In FY02 firecosts were so high that budgets for wildfire suppressionacross the Forest Service were not sufficient to coverexpenditures. To make up the deficit, the Forest Servicewithdrew remaining funding from non-fire operations tofund wildfire suppression. At the ANF this withdrawalfrom non-fire programs totaled over $2.5 million (anadditional $2.8 million was withdrawn from unspent firemanagement funds). As a result of these withdrawals, non-essential non-fire activities at the ANF came to a halt onJuly 1, 2002.

Wildfire sweeps across the San Gabriel

Mountains in the Angeles National Forest.

Airborne firefighting equipment such as this

helicopter play an important role in fighting

large fires that break out in the Angeles

National Forest.

Wildfire Suppression & National Support



In addition to the fund withdrawals, functional areas gaveup employees to help support suppression activities. Atypical large fire will last two to three weeks, taking employ-ees from their regular program duties for the duration ofthe fire. In total, the five non-fire functional areas gave up11.3 FTEs to fire activities in FY02. The Facilities Opera-tions & Maintenance group lost 4.8 FTEs in FY02; this losswas significant, particularly because the program alreadyfaced a shortfall of 55 FTEs.

Wildfire Suppression Total Costs for theCurve and Williams FiresIn FY02, two major fires, the Curve and Williamsfires, swept through one watershed area in the SanGabriel River Ranger District, leaving very costlyimpacts to the region.

Combined suppression costs for these two fires wasreported at $31.1 million. This figure covers thepersonnel and equipment required to put the fire out.What this total does not reflect is the associated costswith a major fire event. Other costs include structuredamage, forestland cleanup, and other agency costssuch as sediment removal, road repair, and powertransmission line cleanup. A breakdown of the costsis as follows:

• Suppression combined: $31.1 million

• BAER combined: $4.5 million

• ANF Structure loss combined: $1.3 million

• Local Agency costs combined: $14.8 million(including Flood control, CA Edison, CA roads,Commercial Towers & Electronic sites)

• Total Fire costs: $51.7 million

This loss is in addition to the loss of resources anddegraded habitat in this region, which is not easilyrepaired. In comparison, expenditures for hazardousfuels reduction treatments, which help lower theintensity and flame length of fires, across the foresttotaled $228,000 in FY02.

ANF firefighters preventing a wildfire from

spreading across Mt. Baldy Road during the

Williams Fire in 2002.



Summary Financial StatementThe bar chart to the right summarizes the functional areasdiscussed in preceding sections, showing both currentfunding and shortfalls (excluding wildfire suppression). Firepreparedness activities receive the highest level of fundingand display the smallest unfunded need. The greatestshortfall is found in facilities operations and maintenance,the largest portion of which would go to restoring andprotecting the forest’s concentrated use areas.

The pie chart at the bottom of the page shows the fundingsources for the ANF’s 2002 expenditures (excluding wildfiresuppression costs). Appropriated funds remain the largestsource of funding for the ANF despite a large reimbursableprogram and the significant increases in revenue resultingfrom the Recreation Fee Demonstration project.

Financials

A group of hikers on an Angeles trail.



Investment PrioritiesThis plan has demonstrated that the Angeles National Forestfaces funding shortfalls across many of its day-to-day pro-grams. The ANF also faces major deficits in its investmentprogram. Many of these projects are critical to the forest’sfuture, but few if any of them can be completed undercurrent funding projections. Following the description ofthese investments, strategies will be proposed that couldprovide additional funding to cover both unfunded opera-tional needs and unfunded project investments.

FacilitiesBuild new Santa Clara Mojave Ranger District OfficeCost: $2.5 millionThe Santa Clara/Mojave River District is ANF’s largestdistrict, stretching from Interstate 5 and Pyramid Lake inthe northwest all the way to Wrightwood and Interstate 15in the northeast. The current district office suffers fromtwo problems: its current location in Bouquet Canyonprovides very poor access to the easternmost reaches ofthe district, and the current office is a temporary modularstructure nearly 20 years old and in disrepair. Relocationwould allow district staff to serve the entire district moreeffectively, and would bring the work environment up tothe standards of other forest administrative sites.

Replace Supervisor’s OfficeCost: $5.0 millionThe ANF’s Forest Supervisor’s Office (SO) was built instages between 1930 and 1986. The complex consists of13 buildings. The primary administrative building was notintended for long-term use and consists of 22 connectedmodular units that have exceeded their designed life.Existing facilities suffer from the following problems:

• shortage of office and meeting space;

• poor heating and ventilation;

• inadequate electrical wiring;

• poor foundation, causing vibration from neighboringfreeway

Replacing the Supervisor’s Office would correct theseproblems, reduce maintenance and utility costs, improveworking conditions for SO personnel, and provide morecomfortable and attractive surroundings for public visitors.

Eliminate unfunded maintenance backlogCost: $50 million (over ten years)Due to the funding gaps identified in this plan, a hugemaintenance backlog has been built up across the forest’swide range of facilities. Many of the ANF’s roads, bridges,trails, water systems, septic systems, and buildings are indisrepair. The estimated cost of addressing this backlog isover $50 million. Without investments to reduce thisbacklog, ANF facilities will be lost to future generations ofvisitors.

Improve lake habitat and facilitiesCost: $2.25 million for facilities upgrades, $300,000 forlake habitat improvementThe Crystal and Pyramid Lake recreational complexes aretwo of the four major recreational complexes in the forest.Improvements would include ensuring that all roads arepaved, septic systems and restrooms are repaired or re-placed, and additional trash containers, fire rings, foodboxes, and grills are provided. In addition, the lake habitatsat Crystal and Jackson lakes are degraded. Needed up-grades include drainage, dredging, bank recontouring, andadding aeration systems. These steps would allow nativefish to flourish.

Complete Studies of Water Systems Benefiting SpecialUse Permit HoldersCost: $400,000Initiate a project to review the water systems shared jointlyby the Forest Service and special use permit holders.Emphasis would be placed on establishing water rights,assessing impacts on watershed, assessing ownership and

Priorities & Strategies

Recreational facilities along Pyramid Lake in the

Santa Clara / Mojave Rivers Ranger District.

Aerial view of the ANF Supervisor’s Office.



permit states, and identifying opportunities toreduce/share maintenance costs and/or dispose ofexcess property.

RecreationComplete demographic research to identifydrivers of trends in forest usageCost: $90,000

The population of Los Angeles County, and conse-quently visitation to the ANF, is projected to growover the next ten years. Planning for this influx mustbegin now if infrastructure, staffing, and programsare to be prepared for this growing demand. TheANF will carry out a large-scale research study toidentify the demographic and socioeconomic driversof the various types of forest use. This informationwill in turn be used for budgeting and various long-range planning exercises.

Complete consistency determinations for recre-ation residence tractsCost: $80,000This would entail the analysis of recreationresidences tracts for continued use, NEPA reviews,

and preparation of consistency reviews per theRecreation Residences Authorization policy of 1994.It must be completed by December 31, 2006 in orderto offer new permits to all 500+ permit holders priorto the December 31, 2008 expiration date.

Upgrade facilities along access to East Fork SanGabriel RiverCost: $100,000Current access to the East Fork of the San GabrielRiver is through numerous informal trails that havecaused serious erosion to the stream banks anddegradation of the riparian environment. Thisproject would fund the development of a formaltrail network, and the placement of trash receptaclesat all trailheads and heavy use areas.

Rehabilitate or replace interpretive andeducational mediaCost: $180,000The ANF has completed a Condition Survey ActionPlan to assess the state of forest-wide interpretiveand educational media and propose upgrades.Implementation of this plan is currently unfunded,and will cost approximately $60,000 per year.

ResourcesReduce fire risk and improve forest healthCost: $300,000 annuallyYears of fire suppression and unrestricted vegetationgrowth compounded by multiple years of droughthave made the forest susceptible to catastrophicinsect infestations, vegetation mortality and wildfire.Working with local communities and agencies, theforest will focus on pest control, reduction of standdensity and removal of hazardous fuels across landownership boundaries.

Enhance wildlife habitatsCost: $1.5 million (over ten years)ANF wildlife managers have focused on programsassociated with threatened and endangered species,and on providing permitting support to non-wildlifeprograms over the past five years. Little funding hasbeen available to complete more general programs toimprove overall forest habitats. With additionalfunding, the ANF would launch programs to im-prove critical terrestrial and stream habitats across theforest, benefiting a wide range of wildlife and plantspecies.

Implement program to protect historic sitesCost: $750,000 (over ten years)This project has two parts: completing an inventoryand condition assessment of historic properties, andrestoring those structures in critical need of repairs(estimated to be 10% of the forest’s historic struc-tures). Each year, $15,000 would be spent on inven-tory and $60,000 on repair.

Replant vegetation lost to fires, pests, and pastuse practicesCost: $300,000Damage to the ANF’s flora has been significant overthe past ten years due to fire, drought, pests, airpollution, and increased visitation. Current reforesta-tion initiatives focus on restoring timber stands andvegetation along riparian corridors to minimizeerosion and improve wildlife habitat. This has leftmany non- riparian areas of the forest untouched.ANF resource managers would like to launch aninitiative to replant general forest areas impacted bythe factors listed above.

Nelson Bighorn Sheep can be seen on steep Angeles

mountainsides.



Proposed Fee RetentionAnnual Value to Forest: $3.7 millionInvestment Required: limitedKey Enabler Required: Congressional approval of a pilot feeretention project

The Angeles National Forest is very valuable real estate. It sitswithin easy reach of Los Angeles County and its 10 million people.Many sites represent assets not found elsewhere in the basin, suchas high mountain peaks for communications sites, winter snows forrecreation, and mineral resources, to name a few. The forest issuesa variety of permits that allow individuals or other entities to useforest land in keeping with its mission of supporting multiple uses.In return, users agree to comply with permit conditions and,typically, pay permit fees. These fees do not directly benefit theAngeles. By law they are sent directly to the U.S. Treasury. In 2002,the forest generated over $3.6 million in permit fees, as shownbelow:

There are several reasons why these fees should be retained at thelocal level.

First and foremost is the reality that a significant operationalunfunded need exists at the ANF. As shown in previous sections,the forest requires an additional $6.6 million to adequately supportits core programs. Any reductions in appropriations will onlyincrease this gap. Retention of permit fees, coupled with a stable orincreasing appropriated base budget, would allow the ANF toaddress over half of its unfunded operational needs.

Second, the appropriated funds that the ANF receives to managethe various permit programs do not cover all of the associatedcosts. There are three primary types of expenditures made tosupport permit recipients: direct expenditures, indirect expendi-tures, and investments. Direct expenditures are those that are spentby ANF personnel assigned to support the various permit pro-grams. These include staff time and expenses incurred by specialuse officers, resource specialists, and administrators involved inissuing and maintaining permits. Indirect expenditures are expendi-tures made on facilities maintenance, public safety, and other

activities that are of primary benefit to permit holders. This moneyis effectively removed from that available to support all other usersof forest resources. Finally, there are investment projects associ-ated with infrastructure. A portion of the projects in the ANF’sunfunded maintenance backlog would directly benefit permitholders. These include improvements to roads, water systems, andother elements of the forest’s infrastructure used by permit holders.

In 2002, direct expenditures on special uses totaled $1 million.These expenditures were budgeted for this use at the beginning ofthe year. Indirect expenditures totalled $0.6 million, and were spentout of funds not allocated to special uses. Finally, ANF staffestimates that $6.6 million of the unfunded maintenance backlogconsists of projects that would benefit special uses. Spread overfive years, these projects would require an investment of $1.3million per year. These figures suggest that the ANF requires an

Strategy: Retain Fees



additional $1.9 million in funding per year to effectivelysupport the special uses programs. This additionalfunding could be provided by permit fee retention,thereby freeing up appropriated funds for other un-funded needs.

Proposed ActionsOptions for providing fee retention legislation include:

• gaining approval from Congress for a five-yearspecial use and mineral royalties fee retentionproject within the southern California Province(Angeles, Los Padres, San Bernardino, and Cleve-land National Forests);

• developing a plan for implementing a fee retentionpilot program;

• utilizing the Recreation Fee Demonstration Programauthority to create a pilot fee retention program.

ANF managers will work with regional and nationalmanagement of the Forest Service, in collaboration withthe other three national forests in southern California,to address this opportunity.

These figures suggest that the ANF

requires an additional $1.9 million in

funding per year to effectively

support the special uses programs.



Maximize Volunteer ContributionsAnnual Value to Forest: $779,000Investment Required: $170,000 annuallyKey Enabler Required: additional funding to supportvolunteer coordinators

The Los Angeles area hosts a large and vibrant communityof nonprofit organizations interested in outdoors recreation,conservation, heritage and historical resource protection.The ANF has often partnered with nonprofits and volunteerassociations to perform various projects such as trail mainte-nance, watershed cleanup, and tree planting.

The primary obstacle to making these contributions a moresubstantial part of the ANF’s operations is managementtime. Volunteer projects require planning and supervision.The unfunded needs identified in this plan amply demon-strate that management capacity is already stretched to itslimits: more proactive management of volunteer resourceswould require additional investment.

The potential payoff to such an investment is substantial.The chart at right shows the investment required and thepossible payoff of building a more substantial volunteercoordination staff at the ANF.

Proposed Actions• Implement a centralized system to track volunteer

partner organizations and volunteer contributions.

• Develop a plan to prioritize potential volunteer engage-ments based on the priority of the need and the capa-bilities available to fill it through volunteerism.

• Set and manage targets for volunteerism.

• Apply savings and any funding to fill volunteer coordi-nation positions identified in this plan.

Increase Use Of Major Partnership AgreementsAnnual Value to Forest: highInvestment Required: $60,000 annuallyKey Enabler Required: additional funding to supportagreement coordinator

Over the past few years, the Angeles has frequently beenunable to fill critical positions as a result of fundingshortfalls in non-fire programs. To fill the resulting gaps,the forest has sometimes shared the cost of scarce re-sources with the other three national forests in southernCalifornia (Los Padres, San Bernardino, and Cleveland).The hiring of a southern California soils scientist and thecreation of a single team to develop revised forest plans forall four forests are examples of such sharing.

While such sharing has historically taken place betweenforests in the National Forest System, there are many otherlocal, state, and federal agencies in southern California withwhich such sharing could be beneficial. Examples include:

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.The National Park Service’s Santa Monica Mountains NRAsits less than 30 miles from ANF. Both entities face similarissues in programs such as wildlife and vegetation manage-ment, facilities operations and maintenance, and wildfireprevention and suppression. ANF and SMMNRA are in theearly stages of identifying areas for possible collaboration.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers (COE) maintains a staff of over 700 people inLos Angeles. Many of these people are the skilled engineers,scientists, and environmental specialists that ANF oftenlacks. ANF could leverage COE resources to remove criticalbottlenecks in forest programs and make use of specificCOE expertise such as environmental engineering.

Strategy: Maximize Partnerships

Volunteers at a tree planting event contribute

to watershed restoration in the ANF.



Proposed Actions• Identify possible partners in southern California;

• Determine capabilities, costs, and other informationneeded to evaluate collaboration opportunities;

• Develop a pilot project fo fill a critical ANF gap with aselected agency.

Develop Cooperative Agreements With LocalAgencies And Private-Sector EntitiesAnnual Value to Forest: $500,000 +Investment Required: $60,000 annuallyKey Enabler Required: additional funding to supportagreement coordinator

The ANF shares common interests with other organizationsthroughout the Los Angeles Basin. Protecting watersheds,preserving endangered species, reducing fire risks andmanaging shared assets benefit both the forest and itsneighbors.

Many of these organizations provide funds to the ANF sothat ANF staff can complete projects in the forest.Examples of such projects include:

• Agreements with the Los Angeles County Department ofPublic Works, CalTrans, the Metropolitan Water District,and many other organizations to perform invasive weedscontrol in ANF watersheds;

• Agreement with the Upper San Gabriel Valley MunicipalWater District to perform watershed restoration projects;

• Agreements with local flood control agencies to fundhazardous fuels management to reduce costly sedimentremoval expenses.

These agreements allow the forest to complete criticalprojects which otherwise would not be done for lack offunding.

Proposed Actions• Fund one additional FTE to pursue opportunities and to

manage agreements.

SCSEP Contributions at Angeles NationalForestThe Senior Community Service Employment Pro-gram (SCSEP) is designed to enable economicallydisadvantaged older Americans to contribute to theircommunities and their own self-sufficiency by gainingvaluable job skills. The program places older Ameri-cans in subsidized positions within government ornonprofit organizations where they can both contrib-ute valuable experience and skills to the organizationand develop new job skills that facilitate placement inunsubsidized jobs. The goal is to transition programenrollees to unsubsidized jobs within the generalworkforce. Funds from the program are provided bygrants from the Department of Labor.

The Angeles National Forest supports an activeSCSEP program. In 2002, the ANF’s SCSEP pro-gram employed over 80 individuals who contributedover 52,000 hours of work (worth over $500,000).SCSEP enrollees play an important role at the ANF.They perform a wide range of services includingoffice administration, public information and educa-tion, landscaping, janitorial work, community out-reach, and support of recreational programs. Givencurrent budget constraints, SCSEP enrollees filltemporary gaps in many programs.

ANF SCSEP enrollees assist on activities

throughout the forest.



Over the decades, the forest has accumulated a vast arrayof assets to meet new and changing needs. The forest hasacquired or built over 650 buildings, 102 picnic areas andcampgrounds, 56 water systems, and innumerable piecesof equipment. Although needs continue to change, theforest lacks authorities and funding to acquire assets anddispose of excess assets in a timely and efficient way. Thefollowing strategies could assist the forest to bettermanage its assets in order to better serve the public in acost effective manner.

Conveyance LegislationValue to Forest: $10.7 million +Annual Investment Required: limitedKey Enabler Required: Congressional approval of theconveyance program

Conveyance programs, generally defined, are programsthat allow the forest to dispose of excess assets and to usethe proceeds on other forest-related projects. The Ange-les has identified 15 excess properties with an estimatedvalue of $10.7 million that are excess to forest needs.Three of these properties, with an appraised value of $2.6million, are being considered in a proposed pilot convey-ance program which will fund the construction of a newSanta Clara Mojave Rivers Ranger District (SCMRRD)district office. Permanent legislation permitting convey-ance would help the Angeles reduce deferred maintenancecosts of $6 million by allowing construction of modernfacilities that better serve the public, and by reducingliability and maintenance on underutilized facilities andproperties.

Additional savings could be realized by the forest if theconveyance legislation were expanded beyond lands andfacilities to other assets such as equipment, and utilities.For example, the Big Pines water system is currently beingshared by the ANF and other special use permit holders.

Strategies: Streamline Asset Management Processes

ANF uses only 5% of the water, while 95% of the water isused by organization camps, ski areas, and other permit-tees. This water system has $2.0 million of backloggedmaintenance and requires $325,000 per year in terms ofmaintenance, water testing and other indirect costs. If theAngeles could sell this water system and then purchase itsown water usage from the new owner, the Angeles couldpotentially save $325,000 annually.

Expanded Post-fire FundingAnnual Value to Forest: up to $1.3 in recent years; variesbased on firesAnnual Investment Required: limited, spread nationallyKey Enabler Required: legislation allowing expansion ofpost-fire funding

Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) encompassesall work necessary to protect land, life, property, andresources of the forest after a wildfire occurrence. How-ever, BAER is only set up for emergency work and doesnot cover the replacement of infrastructure destroyed bywildfires. The forest is expected to pay for these lossesthrough its own appropriated budgets. The facilitiesoperation and maintenance budget is not large enough tocover anticipated costs let alone the unanticipated costsassociated with structures damaged due to wildfires.

In FY02 the Curve and Williams fires destroyed severaladministration sites, bridges and a campground in the SanGabriel River Ranger District. Damage to these sites wasestimated at $1.3 million. IN FY02 the facilities groupreceived an appropriated budget of $2.7 million that wasfully allocated to projects. Replacing the burned facilitieswould require 50% of the funding already allocated toprojects. Rather that defer these much-needed projects,the burned sites are blocked off and removed from publicuse.

Expanded post-fire funding set up at a national levelsimilar to BAER funding could be used to help defray the

The Facilities Operations & Mainte-nance (FO&M) group does nothave enough funding or personnelto cover routine maintenance acrossthe forest. This functional areareported a shortfall of $3.7 millionin FY02. This has caused a backlogof deferred maintenance of over$50 million across all infrastructurecategories: bridges, buildings, dams,developed sites, roads, wastewatersystems, and water systems. TheANF proposes a variety of mea-sures that will provide the flexibilityand funding needed to reduce theseshortfalls, including utilizing theConveyance Pilot Program anddemolishing excess facilities.Together, these measures can reducedeferred maintenance by over $13million.



repair and replacement costs of high priority forest struc-tures destroyed in wildfire events that significantly impairpublic service or health and safety.

Demolition Of Current Excess StructuresValue to Forest: $7.4 million reduction in deferredmaintenanceAnnual Investment Required: $150,000 (for 5 years)for demolitionKey Enabler Required: additional funding

There are a number of facilities within the forest that areexcess to the forest’s needs. These excess structures forcethe Facilities Operations & Maintenance group to spreadfacility upkeep efforts over a large number of buildings. Toprovide incentives for forests to reduce the number ofbuildings to be maintained, the Forest Service has instituteda new budget constraint in which programs will be chargeda fee for every square foot of facilities they currently use.This will assist forest management to determine whatbuildings are absolutely necessary for their programs.Buildings determined to be excess to current needs will bedemolished or will be made available for other uses.

The Angeles plans to demolish several excess buildings,reducing both the annual cost of maintenance and the totalamount of deferred maintenance. Currently there isapproximately $22.3 million worth of deferred maintenanceassociated with buildings in the Angeles. Planned demoli-tion through the use of facilities master planning will cut

this number down by a third, or $7.4 million. The savingswill be used to maintain the remaining facilities to standard,to better serve the public.

Proposed Actions:

• Utlilize Conveyance Pilot Program to use proceeds fromsale of excess administrative sites to reduce backloggedmaintenance.

• Address facilities loss due to fire through a post-firefunding process, similar to the BAER process.

• Demolish facilities in excess of forest needs to reducethe maintenance workload.

There are a number of facilities within

the forest that are excess to the

forest’s needs. These excess

structures force the Facilities

Operations & Maintenance group to

spread facility upkeep efforts over a

large number of buildings.



Annual value to Forest: $800,000-$1,200,000Investment Required: Current level of expenditure plus$303,000 to improve serviceKey Enabler Required: Permanent Fee Legislation

The population of Los Angeles County and use of thenational forest lands has increased steadily over the last tenyears, but the appropriated recreation budget has not keptpace. This increased use of the forest has meant decliningpublic service for Angeles visitors and a $50 millionmaintenance backlog in trails, roads, buildings, camp-grounds, and bridges maintenance.

The greatest gap between service and demand is for useof popular undeveloped sites, such as lower elevationcanyons and streams. Many of these areas are high impactrecreation areas.

The Adventure Pass was launched in 1997 by the foursouthern California National Forests, under the RecreationFee Demonstration Program authority, to address this gapand other recreation demands. The Adventure Pass raisesfunds to manage recreation use and allows contact withforest visitors, providing the opportunity to explain how tosafely use the forest with minimal resource impacts. Beforethe Adventure Pass was initiated, the forests were unable tomeet basic health and safety obligations for recreationfacilities with appropriated funds. Since the institution ofthe Adventure Pass, the Angeles has been able to makeimprovements in these key areas:

• more and cleaner restrooms;

• facility maintenance, enhancement, and additions(picnic sites, and campgrounds refurbished and graffitiremoved);

• better maintained trails;

• improved visitor information (patrols, expandedservices and hours at visitor centers).

Strategy: Increase Investment in High Impact Recreation AreasThrough the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program

The Adventure Pass has also allowed the forest to communi-cate health and safety messages, explain basic behavioralexpectations such as the need to pack out trash, and spell outconsequences of behavior that debases forest resources.Requiring visitors to visit a Forest Service office or vendor topurchase an Adventure Pass provides a point of contactbetween forest visitors and personnel who can informvisitors about forest issues. For example, one local vendorhands out trash bags and educates visitors in both Spanishand Korean. This is public contact the Forest Service wouldnot be able to arrange unless access points to the forest werestaffed, something the forest is not able to do.

Proposed Actions• Increase points of sale of the Adventure Pass at heavy

use areas.

• Increase compliance enforcement of the AdventurePass.

• Obtain permanent legislation authorizing recreation feesfor high impact recreation areas.

Currently, compliance with the Adventure Pass program isat about 62 percent. This means a great deal of revenue ispotentially being lost, up to $502,000 in FY02. There aretwo ways that compliance rates can be raised: additionalpoints of sale and compliance enforcement.

Increase Points of SaleCurrently there are few Adventure Pass points of salewithin the forest or near the forest boundaries. An effortmust be made to make passes available in areas that areaccessible to the public at points when they are likely to usethem. Most visitors to the ANF are spontaneous users thatenter the forest at more than 100 uncontrolled access

Recreation RevenueAccomplishmentsDirectly Funded with 2002 Adven-ture Pass Receipts

• 40 miles of trails maintained

• 8400 cubic yards of trashremoved

• 6 abandoned cars removed

• 65 portable toilets provided athigh use areas

• 11 restrooms repaired

• 30 picnic areas and 47 camp-grounds refurbished

• 12 handouts provided

• 15 information sites maintained

• extended staffing at 6 informa-tion sites

• 4 kiosks rebuilt for 4 camp-grounds.

• supplies for volunteer projects,including renovating historic BigPines Lodge

• 2 wildlife guzzlers (water collec-tors) purchased and repaired

• Mt. Wilson Skyline Park refur-bished.



points for an average of a five-hour stay. Therefore, to sellAdventure Passes in high-use areas such as the San GabrielCanyon, the forest would need to extra staff at theselocations during high use times such as summer weekends.

Currently, the ANF uses mobile points of sale (an infor-mation van and wilderness trailer) that can drive to highuse areas and act as an information station and as a pointof sale for the Adventure Pass. The ANF has two suchvehicles; an additional two vehicles could greatly increasevisitor information opportunities and Adventure Passsales opportunities.

Compliance EnforcementCurrently, only a small number of offenders are receivingnotices of non-compliance due to lack of field staff. If avisitor parks in an area and does not see other vehicles withAdventure Passes or notices of non-compliance, he or she

is more likely to ignore the Adventure Pass program. Withadditional staff in the forest, more notices would be issuedand compliance rates would increase.

Permanent LegislationThe Recreation Fee Demonstration Program is a pilotauthority. Permanent legislation is needed to continue theservices provided in the many high impact recreationareas that the Adventure Pass program currently providesto the public.

An ANF volunteer using equipment purchased

with Adventure Pass dollars to remove graffiti.

Adventure Pass funds were used to repair this

parking lot at the Mt. Baldy Visitor Center.



The Angeles National Forest has urban development along35% of its boundaries. This development creates com-plexities in management of the land and adds additionalcosts. Development occurs up to and over forest bound-aries, which leads to costly encroachment resolution. Firemanagement of natural areas adjacent to developed areasadds community protection to the objectives, which can besignificantly more expensive. Moreover, management ofnatural areas to restore normal fire regimes and improveforest health cannot be done because of the risks posed toabutting properties.

By creating an area between the forest and the borderingurban development in the form of land buffers, greenbeltsand hazardous fuels reduction areas, the forest can create adefensible space in which fuel breaks and controlled fire burnscan be performed with less risk to surrounding communities.In addition, these breaks make it easier to mark and patrolforest boundaries, reducing costly encroachments.

Working with Local Agencies in the PlanningProcessAnnual Value to Forest: highAnnual Investment Required: $500,000Key Enabler Required: additional funding for more RealEstate staff

The first step for the Angeles is to be more proactive inworking with local planning agencies and conservancies,educating them about the need for defensible areas andbuffers around the forest. This can be accomplishedthrough Angeles personnel participating in the planning ofnew and current developments. In this way the forest will beable to gain some influence over and insight into externalevents affecting forest boundaries. The Angeles would alsoseek out strategic land acquisitions to create buffer zones inareas where forest boundary protection is needed most. Aminimum of $500,000/year would be required to have anymeasurable effect on strategic land acquisition.

Resolving Boundary Encroachment on ForestLandsAnnual Value to Forest: $1.3 millionAnnual Investment Required: $620,000Key Enabler Required: additional funding for more RealEstate staff

Because the forest’s boundary is not adequately marked insome areas, the public sometimes knowingly or unknowinglybuilds structures that extend onto forest lands. Currently thereare 200 known and 5,000 estimated boundary encroachmentson forest lands. Each case costs between $10,000 and $20,000to resolve, requiring roughly $37.5 million to resolve theestimated cases. By posting proper boundaries steps can betaken to avoid these costly encroachments.

At present, only 100 miles of the ANF’s 600 mile boundaryis adequately marked. The ANF currently needs to postthe 500 remaining miles of its boundary to identify en-croachments and initiate resolution. Posting the remainingAngeles boundaries would cost between $10,000 and$40,000 per mile. There are assumed to be 2-5 encroach-ments per mile along rural boundaries and 12-15 encroach-ments per mile in urban developed areas. Currently staffingenables the ANF to post one mile per year of forestboundaries, and does not fund encroachment resolution.

With an additional four personnel ($320,000) and contractfunding ($300,000) the posting rate would increase to 25miles per year. Approximately half the potential boundaryencroachment cases could then be prevented, significantlyreducing overall costs.

Expanded Hazardous Fuels Reduction ProgramsAnnual Value to Forest: $6.7 millionAnnual Investment Required: $1.0 millionKey Enabler Required: Additional funding needed toincrease hazardous fuels reduction work

Hazardous Fuels Reduction programs in the form ofprescribed burning, tree-thinning and establishing fuelbreaks occur in a limited amount along the front range ofthe forest. The risk is great due to the close proximity to

Strategy: Strengthen Urban-Wildland Buffer Zones

A wildfire in the ANF nears an electronics site

in the forest. The Copper Fire in 2002 caused

over $2.3 million in damage to private property

within and adjacent to ANF boundaries.



communities along this forest boundary. Special care needsto be taken and considerable effort needs to be made toperform activities in conjunction with local and county firedepartments. However, steps can be taken to expand theHazardous Fuels Reduction program and make this processeasier:

· Maximize community defense efforts. Work with groupsof landowners who will form Fire Safe Councils andenter into memorandums of understanding or otherforms of agreements related to forest boundary projects.

· Coordinate with other agencies. Collaborate withadjoining fire departments to accomplish similar taskswithin their jurisdictions, and reduce costs of prescribedburns and tree thinning.

· Increase efforts in public education. The FirewiseCommunities program is an excellent example ofgovernment introducing a concept for better protectionof life and property and the community members thenfulfilling their own obligations on their property.

Currently the $400,000 Hazardous Fuels Reduction budgetenables the Angeles to treat approximately 4,000 acres ofhazardous fuels per year.

With an increase in the annual Hazardous Fuels Reductionbudget to approximately $1.0 million, along with partner-ships of local agencies and the utilization of buffer zonesbetween the forest and bordering communities, approxi-mately 8,000 acres of hazardous fuels could be treated eachyear through tree-thinning, fuel breaks and prescribedburning. Through the strategic placement of buffer zonesaround communities, wildfires would not burn as intensely,reducing risks to firefighters and the public. It is approxi-mated that a $1.0 million yearly investment could save theforest and surrounding communities $50 to $200 million inproperty damage over the next 30 years by lowering theintensity and frequency of wildfires in the forest.

Proposed Actions:• Work with local planning agencies to effct defensible

areas around the forest.

• Actively acquire interface property to securedefensible space.

• Increase boundary management program to post 25miles/year.

• Maximize community defense efforts.

• Coordinate fuel reduction programs with other agencies.

• Increase efforts in public education with programs suchas Firewise Communities.

Currently the $400,000 Hazardous

Fuels Reduction budget enables the

Angeles to treat approximately 4,000

acres of hazardous fuels per year.



AcknowledgmentsThis plan would not have been possible without the help andsupport of the USDA Forest Service, The National ParksConservation Association (NPCA), the NPCA Business PlanTeam, and the entire staff of the Angeles National Forest.Those who deserve mention include:

Business Plan ConsultantsJason Pelletier, NPCA consultantBrian Weir, NPCA consultant

Angeles National Forest TeamVic Andresen, Forest HydrologistSteve Bear, Resource Officer, Los Angeles River Ranger DistrictSonja Bergdahl, Forest EngineerRich Borden, Forest Planner and Special ProjectsWilliam Brown, Forest BiologistCharity Burton, Chief Financial OfficerJody Cook, Forest SupervisorDon Cosby, District Ranger, Los Angeles River Ranger DistrictMartin Dumpis, District Ranger, San Gabriel River Ranger DistrictMartin Esparza, Resource Assistant, Los Angeles River Ranger

DistrictGeorge Farra, Assistant Forest EngineerDonald Feser, Fire Management OfficerKaren Fortus, Resource Officer, San Gabriel River Ranger DistrictRaina Fulton, Recreation and Lands OfficerDon Garwood, Deputy Fire Management OfficerMaria Holguin, Accounting TechnicianCliff Johnson, Realty SpecialistClem LaGrosa, Resource and Planning OfficerAngie Lavell, Equal Opportunity ManagerDiane McCombs, Recreation Officer, Santa Clara Mojave

River Ranger DistrictMike McCorison, Zone Air Specialist

Mike McIntyre, Heritage Resources/Interpretive Program ManagerCid Morgan, District Ranger, Santa Clara Mojave River Ranger DistrictKathy Peterson, Public Affairs AssistantRita Plair-Wears, Pacific Southwest Region Law Enforcement

CommanderRich Robertson, Special Uses SpecialistHarry Scott, Resource Assistant, Los Angeles River Ranger DistrictRoseann Smith, Human Resource OfficerKathy Stamps, AccountantLinda Steinberg, Special Uses TechnicianBob Thorson, Human Resources Program CoordinatorDarrell Vance, ArchaeologistRichard Wales, Wildlife BiologistDarRell Walker, Supervisory Computer SpecialistSusie Wood, Visual Information SpecialistGail Wright, Public Affairs Officer

USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region TeamBob Kates, Frances Enkoji, Steven Haigh, Donna Dell’Ario,

& Stephanie Gomes

National Parks Conservation AssociationPhil Voorhees, Scott Edwards, Pat Hunter, Adam Keith,

& Fred Richardson


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