A Hiking Blog for L.A. and Southern California
The LA Cultural Heritage Commission voted 3-1 to recommend historical cultural monument status yesterday afternoon.
The potential update to the park’s signs will eventually be decided by the City Council, sometime within the next few months.
Nice work, everyone!
Via Daily News.
This Thursday, October 30th, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission will be holding a meeting to determine whether or not to recommend Griffith Park as a Historic-Cultural Monument.
The title change wouldn’t just give the 4200+ acre park a fancier title on its business cards, either — it would protect both the open space and existing structures from future development plans without extensive review — including bizarro plans like the 2005 proposal to add multi-story parking garages and aerial trams.
The designation is notable in that it would protect the park in its entirety — preserving its overall character and design in the face of anyone trying to make a quick buck — and elevate it to the level of Golden Gate Park, Balboa Park, and Central Park, which all also share the same Historic-Cultural Monument title. Additionally, as an LA Times Letter to the Editor points out, preventing development inside Griffith Park would essentially force L.A. to develop new parks throughout the city, instead of focusing all its efforts on one central park.
If you can make the meeting, it’s at 10AM in Room 350 of City Hall. Otherwise, visit the Friends of Griffith Park site to sign up for info, and be sure to contact your city council member to let them know how you feel.
Image by Marcy Reiford.
LA.com’s Daily News is reporting hikers are damaging the re-opened trails of recently burned areas of Griffith Park by straying off trail and trampling over recovering chaparral. And who, you might ask, is doing all of this irresponsible hiking? According to the News, “elite hikers of the Sierra Club.”
Up to 500 Sierrans hike Griffith Park three nights a week, and apparently their reckless off-trail stomping isn’t news either to park rangers or Sierra Club hike leaders. Endangered Species Task Force hike leader Rosemarie White recalled running into another group of Sierra Club hikers while leading a moderate on-trail hike: “They were coming straight up where there was no trail, grabbing branches like it was the cat’s meow.”
Large-scale off-trail hiking can increase erosion and destroy plant habitat anywhere, but in this area of fire recovery, stomping boots can crush new seedlings, kick up roots, and displace planted mulch and seeds.
But that doesn’t matter to hikers like Andy Serrano, who
said a trail is a trail, with many undesignated paths leading to stairways, bridges and other man-made features.
In some areas, he said, the unofficial trails are the only way to get from place to place, as from Lake Hollywood to Mount Cahuenga.
“I’m a fast hiker, but I don’t blaze new trails,” Serrano said. He added that, without the sporting element, many hikers would rather stay home. “They won’t come. I wouldn’t come.
“I’d go to the gym, where there are pretty girls in leotards,” he said. “The smaller trails … are very steep. You do some technical climbing. There are rocks. They’re more challenging.
“The fire trails are like a sidewalk. There’s absolutely nothing interesting there.”
Hey, Andy, you know what? I don’t like fire roads, either. But when I want a challenging trail, I find a challenging trail. I don’t make my own.
Also, you’re in the Sierra Club. Act like you at least have an ounce of respect for the natural features that others protected so you could enjoy them.
Via CurbedLA.
Photo by Al.Hermmann.
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