Wilderness Areas

The Santa Ynez Waterfalls, once a cool reward at the end of a two-mile hike out of Pacific Palisades, are a striking example of the way rocks, trees, and paths deep in wilderness areas around Los Angeles have increasingly been defaced by vandals. Here are two descriptions of the waterfalls, coming nine years apart and illustrating their metamorphosis: "The canyon walls become steep and rugged, the stream narrows . . .

The body of renowned long-distance runner Micah True has been found in the Gila Wilderness area of New Mexico, state police reported Saturday. True hadn't been seen since Tuesday, when he set out for a run from the Wilderness Lodge and Hot Springs. Unsure of which trail True had planned to take, only that he was planning what would have been, to him, a fairly routine excursion near Gila Hot Springs, searchers combed the local wilderness areas. On Saturday, they intensified their efforts , using teams on horseback and ATVs, as well as K-9 units, to search for the 58-year-old.

The body of renowned long-distance runner Micah True has been found in the Gila Wilderness area of New Mexico, state police reported Saturday. True hadn't been seen since Tuesday, when he set out for a run from the Wilderness Lodge and Hot Springs. Unsure of which trail True had planned to take, only that he was planning what would have been, to him, a fairly routine excursion near Gila Hot Springs, searchers combed the local wilderness areas. On Saturday, they intensified their efforts , using teams on horseback and ATVs, as well as K-9 units, to search for the 58-year-old.

Mining claims threaten to mar the borders of 10 iconic national parks and wilderness areas, particularly the Grand Canyon, where uranium claims have increased 2,000% since 2004, according to a new report by the Pew Environment Group. Mining companies have filed claims to the rights to copper, gold and other metals in addition to uranium in areas around Mt. Rushmore, Joshua Tree National Park and other famous refuges at an increased rate in the last five to seven years because of rising global prices, the Pew report said.

Because rain has reduced fire hazards, several wilderness areas that had been closed to the public since May will reopen Monday, fire officials said. They include south of Bonita Canyon Drive, Sand Canyon Avenue and the San Diego Freeway to Pacific Coast Highway, as well as west of Laguna Canyon Road to the Newport Beach Wildland/Urban Interface of Buck Gully in Corona del Mar.

A new front has opened in the centuries-old battle over preserving federal lands in the West, with some advocates of a tighter border arguing that designating some lands as wilderness ? meaning they are so precious that no mechanized vehicle can enter ? hinders border security. The U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies can take vehicles into wilderness areas while chasing lawbreakers. But to patrol the lands by vehicle, plant sensors or build operating bases, they must get permission from the federal agency controlling the region.

The House passed legislation Monday nearly doubling the amount of land to be preserved as wilderness in California's sprawling Los Padres National Forest and designating three rivers in the area as wild and scenic. Los Padres, the second-largest national forest in California, encompasses nearly 2 million acres of rugged mountains, conifer forests, grasslands and chaparral stretching from Monterey south to the outskirts of Los Angeles.

President Bush signed legislation Tuesday designating 733,400 acres of protected wilderness in Nevada and opening 2.4 million more acres to multiple use under the management of the Agriculture Department. The measure creates 13 new wilderness areas in Nevada and adds to one other existing area. That would put 2% of the state's land under wilderness protection, preventing development and such uses as timber harvesting, mineral exploration or intrusion by campers in vehicles.

A Newport Beach developer backed by an Arizona investment firm has paid $15 million for 663 acres of environmentally sensitive land in a northeastern Orange County canyon, where the Anaheim City Council has approved a planned community. Environmentalists still hope to combine state, federal and private funds to buy the rugged parcel, where mountain lions, bobcats and deer roam, and connect it to a chain of wilderness areas stretching south to San Diego County.

Stubborn fires continued to rage through wilderness areas of San Diego and Orange counties Thursday, and the toll rose with the grim discovery of six more bodies of people caught in the infernos. But the danger to homes and businesses subsided and many of those affected by Southern California's latest natural disaster began taking the first steps toward a return to normalcy.

A new front has opened in the centuries-old battle over preserving federal lands in the West, with some advocates of a tighter border arguing that designating some lands as wilderness ? meaning they are so precious that no mechanized vehicle can enter ? hinders border security. The U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies can take vehicles into wilderness areas while chasing lawbreakers. But to patrol the lands by vehicle, plant sensors or build operating bases, they must get permission from the federal agency controlling the region.

Restoring a policy abandoned by the George W. Bush administration, the top Interior official on Thursday gave the agency that manages 245 million acres of public land the authority to temporarily protect pristine areas of the West. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who issued the order, called it "a new chapter in terms of how we take care of our Bureau of Land Management lands. " Salazar's directive casts aside a Bush policy that was adopted after an out-of-court settlement between then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton and the state of Utah.

For months, Glendale's Deukmejian Wilderness Park has been closed to the public, first because its hillsides were scorched in last year's Station fire and then because winter storms eroded portions of the park and filled it with mud and debris. Just in time for the first day of summer, however, the "park closed" barrier was covered with a handwritten sign declaring it "open." Area residents have anxiously awaited the reopening of the park, which saw nearly all of its 709 acres blackened during the Station fire.

The river ripples cold around his waders as Bill Reeves casts a dry fly onto a pool edged with alders on the bottom of a canyon deep in the San Gabriel Mountains. Reeves, 69, who first fished this stretch of the San Gabriel River's west fork with his father more than half a century ago, was in his element — scanning the eddies for rising wild trout in a wilderness that resurrected childhood memories. "I'd be happy if this place stayed just the way it is," the stout conservationist said.

With rain soaking their clothing and fogging up their binoculars, 50 researchers and university students armed with butterfly nets and specimen bottles fanned out across Whitewater Canyon at daybreak Monday to take the first full accounting of wildlife in the oasis a few miles northwest of Palm Springs.

The idyllic sounds of rustling leaves and cascading snowmelt mixed with Scripture readings Saturday morning during a pre-Easter service held in a shady Angeles National Forest glen overlooking the east fork of the San Gabriel River. About 35 worshipers from throughout Southern California had gathered by the river to break bread, pray and show support for an ongoing campaign to bolster federal protections for the San Gabriel Mountains. The service was organized by San Gabriel Mountains Forever, a coalition of environmental and community groups including the Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club and Friends of the River.

Glenn Porzak, president of the American Alpine Club, offered a travel tip during the recent Mountain Summit: "If you want a wilderness experience, don't go to Mt. Everest." The thrust of the symposium was concern shared by some of the world's top mountaineers and rock climbers for their deteriorating environment. Reinhold Messner, an Italian mountaineer, was aghast at plans to build cable cars across Mt. Olympus in Greece.

A state panel Thursday approved $6 million toward the purchase of Orange County's Coal Canyon, but officials warned that major hurdles remain before the fragile wilderness corridor will be fully shielded from home construction. In addition to the money for Coal Canyon, the state Transportation Commission also approved release of $4 million to buy Bair Island in San Francisco Bay. The two purchases were designed by Gov.

It is difficult to fathom that there could be a plot of ground in California that hasn't been extensively tramped across, camped on, photographed or blogged about. If anything comes close, it's the proposed Berryessa Snow Mountain National Conservation Area, a half-million-acre section of the inner coast range that is home to some of the most biologically diverse landscape in the state, ranging from unspoiled rivers and rolling oak woodlands that begin near the town of Winters to the craggy 7,000-foot peak of Snow Mountain in the Mendocino National Forest, 100 miles to the north.

Facing enormous costs and fierce opposition from environmental groups, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on Wednesday announced that it has dropped plans to build an 85-mile-long "green" power transmission line across desert wilderness preserves and scenic ridgelines. Controversy surrounding the proposed Green Path North Transmission Line had tarnished Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's bid to portray himself as the leader of the "cleanest, greenest big city in America." Villaraigosa was unavailable for comment.