by Dominic Grossman
What is the Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness, and why isn’t the Angeles Crest 100 Mile Endurance Run (AC100) allowed to use it this year?
The Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness was created in 2009 by the lobbying efforts of the Sierra Club. Forest by-laws prevent wilderness areas from being used for competition of any type. AC100 had been maintaining and using the trails on Mt. Williamson, Cooper Canyon, and Sulfur Springs long before the wilderness area was created, and the Angeles National Forest granted special use permits for the race while organizers worked with congressmen on getting a permanent exemption. Unfortunately, once the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument was created in 2014, the Forest Service began to recant on its agreement with AC100 due to increased scrutiny, and the 2016 race is not allowed to use any trails within this area. This is not a political matter, but a procedural matter that mistakenly blocks access to AC100. The result is a 20 mile detour that uses out and backs on roads that that take away from the ascetic point to point nature of the original course.Â
Is there any precedent for granting a permanent exemption?
Yes, the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run (WS100) experienced the same encroachment of wilderness with the creation of the Granite Chief Wilderness in 1984. Wendell T. Robie, the founder of the WS100 Ride called in a favor from his friend, President Ronald Reagan, who allowed Western States to be “Grandfathered in” to allow the run to continue to take place. Since then, Western States has always been granted a permit and paid back the Tahoe Forest Service with several thousand hours of conservation through trail work. It is AC100’s goal to procure a similar favor from President Barack Obama who is a supporter of positive community events like AC100 which bring together volunteers and runners to build character and camaraderie through maintaining trails and running 100 miles.Â
What can I do to help?
Sign the petition by filling out your information and clicking the confirmation button on the e-mail that arrives in your inbox https://wh.gov/iH2KF. Additionally, we ask that you share this link with as many people as possible to help us reach the 100,000 mark that guarantees a response from the White House.
Why should AC100 get a permanent exemption?
AC100 has many passionate runners and volunteers that take conservation very seriously and always leave the trails better than they left them. Without AC100 maintaining these trails, many would become overgrown and impassable due to limited forest service budgets for trail maintenance. The AC100 trail work program requires all entrants south of Fresno to volunteer 8 hours of their time doing trail work on the course, which includes trimming brush, managing culverts, building retaining walls, clearing down trees, and improving tread. This ensures a passable corridor through remote areas that allow for all trail users to have access to beautiful wilderness areas. Without AC100, PCT thru hikers, day hikers, mountain bikers and trail runners would not have reliable access through Sulfur Springs, Mt. Williamson, Idlehour Canyon, Shortcut Canyon, Cooper Canyon, and Santa Anita Canyon.Â
Also, we hope to continue the precedent that was set for Western States, and to allow other historic race courses to do the same as more land is set aside each year for new wilderness areas. Though AC100’s problem may seem isolated, there are other courses that use terrain that is being lobbied for wilderness status as well. The concept of wilderness is not a negative one, as long as it is managed with a positive interpretation of the Wilderness Act of 1974 that allows organizations like AC100 to maintain and respectfully use beautiful and pristine areas.Â
15 comments
Petition signed, but: the headline has us tilting at windmills. The creation of the San Gabriel National Monument did not force course changes for AC100. Much of the AC100 runs through the San Gabriel National Monument without any issue. It is the Pleasant View Wilderness, which is completely independent of the Monument, that is the issue. The creation of the Monument brought more scrutiny to the area, revealing the fact that the race was running through a Wilderness area that does not allow races. Blaming the creation of the San Gabriel National Monument on the course changes is kind of like blaming the cameras at intersections for the fact that people are getting tickets for running red lights. The reason they are getting tickets is because they are running the lights; the cameras are simply the increased scrutiny. The reason that AC100 is not allowed to run through the Pleasant View Wilderness is because races are not allowed to run through the Wilderness; the fact that Ken and Hal were able to get permits every year was exceptional, and RD Hal has been letting everyone know long before the creation of the San Gabriel National Monument that it was a matter of when, not if, they would no longer get permits.
Sure Geoff, you can make the rational any way you wish to, but there remains the fact that the Angeles National Forest is allowed to grant special permits for activities on their land that they deem worthwhile to the forest’s mission of conservation and recreation. The Angeles National Forest has rangers that love AC, and they have made it very clear to myself and the RD’s that they appreciate the work AC does. They understand our predicament with wilderness and support our cause. The difference this year, is that the ANF does not get to have absolute sovereignty over the permitting of AC, and they have to go through more layers of bureaucracy due to the National Monument requiring increased monitoring by the Department of the Interior.
It’s like if your Dad knew that your Mom didn’t want you to have candy, but he lets you have candy until your Mom shows up. You would be eating the candy if Mom didn’t show up, but you never were supposed to, so in the end it’s all the same whether you blame Mom in absentia or Mom while present.
The only issue going forward is finding someone who will take our case seriously and help us change the policy for AC100 in the ANF/SGMNM.
Blaming it on Monument. You’ve lost my support. Where can I unsign?
I re-read my post and I don’t see any statement saying that the monument directly caused the permit to be denied. I’m sorry that you read it that way, it’s merely a part of the story of how the land is managed starting with PVRW being created in 2009, SGMNM in 2014, and finally ANF denying AC access in 2016. I’m not here to explain government rational, and I did not attribute blame in my article, I’m sorry that it sounds that way to you.
Dominic: your post, no, but the headline directly blames the Monument for the course change.
And for anybody who is reading this thread: Dominic and I are actually friends, and I admire and support all that he and Katie Desplinter have done for the trail running community, especially here in Southern California. I signed the petition, I urge others to do so, but I also urge all of us to be careful who we assign blame to.
Here’s the deal: AC100 is an iconic race, or was; there’s a strong argument to be made (Dominic disagrees vehemently) that RD Ken Hamada has made a number of questionable decisions that have relegated it to being a third tier, locals only event.
The course was exceptional, even after a significant change was made to accommodate a rare species of frog. It runs through what became (long after the race was founded) a wilderness area, and following that, it was always just a matter of time before permits were denied. Co RD Hal Winton has been upfront about this as long as I’ve known him, which isn’t as long, or nearly as well, as Dominic has/does. But he’s been saying it at race briefings since the first one I attended in 2011. It was old news then, 3 years before there was any SGMNM.
“Tilting at windmills” comes from Cervantes’ “Don Quixote”, and has come to mean attacking imaginary enemies. In this case, the San Gabriel Monument is an imaginary enemy because the fight was always going to be to get permanent permission to run through the Pleasant View Wilderness, regardless of the existence of the San Gabriel Monument. If Trump were to be elected and get rid of the San Gabriel Monument, we would still require special permission that could be denied at any time to run through the PVW. The fight is not against Obama and the SGMNM, but against the PCTA, the Sierra Club (John Muir is rolling over in his grave so hard at what they’ve become that he’s probably causing earthquakes) and elements of the Wilderness Act.
I hope everyone and anyone signs the petition, but I also hope we all fight the true fight against the real and not imaginary enemies.
And I know Dominic hasn’t a racist bone in his body. If he truly believes the National Monument is the problem, that hasn’t anything in his mind to do with who signed the bill.
Dominic had supplied us this article without a headline. So the headline is something that we came up with (without fully understanding the situation). Knowing a little more, I can see it’s not accurate and misleading. We will update it now. Sorry about that..
Thanks!! I wondered if that might not be the case. Sign the Petition, everyone!
The love is shared Geoff, I hope all parties involved can come to a reasonable resolution. That said, this event does show the need for increased civic involvement from the ultrarunning community as other communities have pushed for 60+ for self-serving aspects of federal law. I can’t help but worry about the perpetual nature of land being set aside for wilderness, and the effect on our sport as we try to keep our historic courses alive. This won’t be the last time this type of thing happens.
Racist right wing assholes who hate Obama are making the claim.
It’s Obama Derangement Syndrome, got to blame the black man for all of life’s little mishaps.
NO IT DID NOT! The people who put on the race — a for-profit corporation — failed to get their Wilderness Permit in part due to the section they’re being asked to divert around being an endangered species frog habitat! The fucking monument had nothing to fucking do with it!
STOP SPREADING FUCKING RIGHT WING FUCKING LIES!
This is a lie, the National Monument had nothing to do with it. The individual who keeps making this claim is either a racist who hates Obama else he’s merely wrong. The race was changed because it is a Designated Wilderness as well as the path crosses an Endangered Species Act listed frog, it is NOT diverted because of Obama declaring it a National Monument!
I see that the owner of this blog deletes truthful comments — are you a coward who can’t address the truth about your claims?
We prefer to have civil conversations here. Personal attacks or insults don’t contribute anything to the conversation and will be removed.
As mentioned previously to the above comment on other forums, this is not about the frog closure at all, and the map provided clearly shows that it is not apart of the AC course. Again, I have merely provided a timeline for the events of the race, and I have not blamed any single event.
Please stop with the personal attacks, I voted for Obama, I have ran the course 4 times, I’ve read the Wilderness Act and all the by-laws of the forest, and I have spoken with ANF rangers about the matter. I’m deeply troubled that you are not responding to my clarifications, and are trying to bully me repeatedly.
Relax dude. Not only are you wrong but you need to dial down your defense of the president. Fact of the matter is Obama has done more to harm access to trails in this country than any other president. I’d tell you why but I’d hate to have you more butt hurt than you already are.
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