Angeles National Forest

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide detectives are investigating the death of a man they say may have been set on fire early Saturday near the 5 Freeway in Angeles National Forest. Los Angeles County firefighters discovered the badly burned body after a passerby reported seeing what was described as a debris fire about 12:30 a.m. near the Templin Highway off-ramp. There were no vehicles or other people in the area at the time of the discovery, authorities said. The man has not been identified.

From the start, there were indications that the U.S. Forest Service didn't respond aggressively enough during the 2009 Station fire in the Angeles National Forest. Now there are signs that it moved too aggressively to plant a million seedlings in an attempt at post-fire reforestation. As Times staff writer Louis Sahagun reports, only about a fourth of the pine and fir seedlings have survived so far, less than a third of the hoped-for number. Dry conditions this year would have made things difficult in any event, but many mistakes were surprisingly avoidable: planting in areas that experts now agree are too steep and rocky for tree survival; planting species that either aren't native to the area or weren't growing in those specific areas before; planting at too low an elevation; and planting more trees than typically grow in these areas.

The thick blanket of smoke pouring into the Los Angeles Basin from two brush fires in the Angeles National Forest is expected to linger through the weekend, prompting health warnings and halting some school athletic programs. The smoke from a fire north of Azusa that began Tuesday and a blaze above La Cañada Flintridge that broke out Wednesday resulted in unhealthy air pollution levels in the San Gabriel Valley as well as parts of Los Angeles. Weather experts blame weak winds -- which actually prevented the fires from burning more intensely -- for keeping the smoke from dissipating.

By all accounts, the 400-pound black bear, now synonymous with Glendale, is very, very smart. Smarter, authorities say, than the average bear. After he discovered Costco meatballs in a resident's refrigerator about a month ago, authorities say, the bear has returned to the same house in the 3800 block of Cedarbend Drive three times seeking the same dinner. He even monitored trash schedules in multiple neighborhoods, nailing down the days when he could nab free food. But on Tuesday, the meatball-lovingbear'sgood fortune ran out. He was felled by multiple tranquilizer darts in a drama that unfolded on morning television, then was carted deep into the Angeles National Forest with what California Department of Fish and Game officials described as a "heck of a hangover.

A band of rebels has bunkered in the hills above Los Angeles, surprising hikers, campers and mountain bikers with a novel rallying cry: "You can't see the forest for the fees!" The forest firebrands are incensed over the Adventure Pass, a U.S. Forest Service program that since 1997 has charged visitors to four Southern California national forests a $5 daily or $30 annual fee per carload, using the proceeds for maintenance. Opposed to paying to play on public lands, the activists are flouting the fee policy every weekend at the Angeles National Forest, turning America's most popular national forest into an unlikely staging ground for civil disobedience.

By all accounts, the 400-pound black bear, now synonymous with Glendale, is very, very smart. Smarter, authorities say, than the average bear. After he discovered Costco meatballs in a resident's refrigerator about a month ago, authorities say, the bear has returned to the same house in the 3800 block of Cedarbend Drive three times seeking the same dinner. He even monitored trash schedules in multiple neighborhoods, nailing down the days when he could nab free food. But on Tuesday, the meatball-lovingbear'sgood fortune ran out. He was felled by multiple tranquilizer darts in a drama that unfolded on morning television, then was carted deep into the Angeles National Forest with what California Department of Fish and Game officials described as a "heck of a hangover.

Ever since my wife saw the Disney/Pixar movie "Up," she's been calling me Mr. Fredricksen. He's the 78-year-old man who dreamed all his life about going to the Lost World and finally makes the trip. "It's you," she says, "including the impatience." But, really, I've been pretty patient when you consider that I've wanted to come here since I heard a radio play on this very topic when I was 10 years old. That was 70 years ago. I dreamed even longer than Mr. Fredricksen had.

On a sweltering morning deep in the San Gabriel Mountains, Katie VinZant donned work gloves and boots, hoisted a pickax and began bashing alien species. The 31-year-old botanist enjoys a Sunday in the Angeles National Forest as much as the next person. But when it comes to weeds that have colonized and multiplied since the 2009 Station fire, she's a terminator. Slender and trim in a T-shirt, grubby pants and tattered straw sombrero, VinZant swiped the sweat stinging her eyes.

A human skull with a bullet hole in it has been found in the Angeles National Forest. Two hikers came across it Thursday evening on a hillside that had been burned in the Station fire. Homicide detectives are overseeing the investigation but don't yet know how long the skull was there, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore. "It appears to be burned," Whitmore said. The Station fire, which started Aug. 26, burned 250 square miles of forest.

The U.S. Forest Service on Monday will reopen popular picnic areas, hiking trails and campgrounds across 98,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest that had been closed since the Station fire scorched the San Gabriel Mountains nearly two years ago. The reopening could not come soon enough for Tyler Wallace, a 32-year-old engineer and avid hiker, who was forced to seek another adventure Sunday when a forest ranger said Wallace would not be able...

Plant-life lover Re "It's a forest-sized weeding job," Oct. 3 Forest Service botanist Katie VinZant seems enthusiastic about removing exotic plants from the Angeles National Forest. She has begun a campaign to root out one of my favorite plants in the forest, Spanish broom. True, that hardy plant with the beautiful yellow flower is not native to California, but neither are most of us human inhabitants. What's next? Must we eradicate eucalyptus trees and wild mustard?

On a sweltering morning deep in the San Gabriel Mountains, Katie VinZant donned work gloves and boots, hoisted a pickax and began bashing alien species. The 31-year-old botanist enjoys a Sunday in the Angeles National Forest as much as the next person. But when it comes to weeds that have colonized and multiplied since the 2009 Station fire, she's a terminator. Slender and trim in a T-shirt, grubby pants and tattered straw sombrero, VinZant swiped the sweat stinging her eyes.

Lynn Newcomb Jr., a legendary mountain man credited with establishing the first ski lift in Southern California and introducing a generation of young people to the sport, died Monday in Bishop, Calif. He was 91. He had lived with Alzheimer's disease and dementia for several years, and suffered a series of seizures in recent weeks, his family said. For six decades starting in the 1940s, Newcomb was at the heart of the San Gabriel Mountains community, managing and owning Newcomb's Ranch and Mt. Waterman Ski Resort in the Angeles National Forest.

Heavy crowds and treacherous terrain have proved a dangerous combination this summer in the popular Eaton Canyon section of Angeles National Forest. Two hikers have plunged to their deaths recently, and authorities are warning visitors to be wary of climbing near the waterfalls. The area is popular with novice hikers, families with small children and dog walkers because of its gentle trails and refreshing mountain streams. "If they stay on the canyon bottom, it's just boulder hopping.

Unless you want to spend a few weeks scratching like a dog, don't even think of petting this pretty little poodle. Campers, hikers, emergency crews and park rangers are learning the hard way about a little-known poisonous plant that has painted the hillsides of the Angeles National Forest a lovely lavender this summer: the poodle-dog bush. A species of plant that thrives in areas scorched by wildfire, the lavender-flowered Turricula parryi packs a bite. Skin contact can cause rashes, blisters, swelling and general irritation.

Try something new over Fourth of July or during the 405 Freeway shutdown the following weekend. A new zip-line tour in the San Gabriel Mountains will open Friday in Wrightwood with an inaugural ticket discount until mid-July. The deal: Navitat Canopy Adventures is offering a 20% discount for zip-line tours that usually cost $109 for adults and $99 for kids, including tax. The tours, which last more than three hours, are scheduled from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Nov. 30. Check out the video on the website to get an idea of what the up-in-the-air tours are like.

Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives hope three jewel-encrusted rings and a gold necklace found near the skulls of a man and woman in the Angeles National Forest after the Station fire will help identify the deceased and reveal more about how they died. The skulls were found Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 in the burned-out area below Angeles Forest Highway, near mile marker 19. "It appears that there was some trauma to at least one of the skulls," Det. John Duncan said. The trauma to the male skull could be a bullet hole, investigators said.

What a difference a road makes. Highway 39, the winding mountain road that provides the only access to Crystal Lake and other recreational areas of the Angeles National Forest from Azusa, quietly reopened this spring, breathing new life into a mountain resort that dates to the 1930s. Now forest officials are working to fully reopen trails and campgrounds at Crystal Lake, which is open for day use. The natural lake at almost 6,000 feet was closed after the Curve Fire of 2002 destroyed about 20,000 acres as well as hiking trails and campsites in the area.

The body of a Santa Clarita woman who disappeared last week has been found in the Angeles National Forest. Investigators confirmed Friday that the body was that of 59-year-old Renata Klein. Her husband, Dusan Klein, also 59, was still missing, along with their 10-year-old black-and-white cocker spaniel, Cindy. Public works employees found Renata Klein's body about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday off Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road. The cause of death remains unknown, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

A section of California Highway 2 between La Cañada Flintridge and Angeles Forest Highway will reopen Friday, according to California Department of Transportation spokesman Patrick Chandler. Angeles Crest Highway has been closed since Jan. 17, 2010, when heavy rain fell in the Station fire burn area and washed away three major sections of pavement through the Angeles National Forest. Caltrans had planned to reopen the road in December 2010, Chandler said, but record rainfall that month and in January 2011 brought down so much debris and water that the runoff overwhelmed a culvert and washed out a slope, necessitating further repairs and delays.