Effort underway to link forests, adjacent cities
Some argue political districts should be drawn to unite rural, urban voices
With political redistricting underway, there’s a push to link the western part of the San Bernardino National Forest to adjacent Foothill communities that are forced to deal with overflowing forest issues such as trail access, water management, wildfires, traffic and vandalism.
But making a formal connection in Congress between the communities of Upland and Rancho Cucamonga with the vast federal forest lands north of their borders is not as easy as tying a knot.
Because the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission must account for voting rights of minority communities, keeping districts equal in population and other factors, requiring one member of Congress to represent the adjacent forest along with nearby Foothill cities doesn’t always match up.
In fact, as it stands today, the congressional districts around the west valley cities are a tangled mishmash, often leaving the mountains — prominent federal recreational lands used by millions — to float on their own.
For example, the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Bernardino National Forest are in the 8th Congressional District, a huge district that stretches up to Death Valley and includes Hesperia and Barstow but not Upland and Rancho Cucamonga.
Likewise, Upland, a city of 80,000, is divided between the 27th and the 31st congressional districts, represented by Judy Chu, DPasadena, and Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, respectively. Rancho Cucamonga, population 176,379, also is in Aguilar’s district. But if either city wants to talk forest issues, they must go to Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear, in the 8th District.
Upland City Councilwoman Janice Elliott sees this as a disconnect in representation for the immediate region. Acting as a private citizen, she wrote a letter to the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission asking that Upland and Rancho Cucamonga be in the same congressional district as the San Gabriels that lie within parts of the Angeles and San Bernardino national forests.
“These Foothill communities south of the San Gabriel Mountains share many common traits and a
very important relationship to our adjacent San Gabriel Mountains. This makes our cities ‘communities of interest,’ which should be in the same congressional district as the San Bernardino Mountains so we have a member of Congress who represents our interest in how the forest is managed and protected,” Elliott wrote.
Upland will hold a public hearing on congressional district boundaries at 7:20 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 460 N. Euclid Ave.
Elliott, who sits on the West End Consolidated Water Co. board that pumps groundwater in the Foothills, says the runoff from the forest could affect water quality. Also, Upland owns 74% of the San Antonio Water Co. and has a vested interest in mountain water runoff, water quality and quantity.
In Cucamonga Canyon, Elliott was part of a Sierra Club cleanup in which old cars were pulled out of the
Cucamonga Foothills Preservation Alliance member Scott Christiansen of Rancho Cucamonga heads up the trailhead to Cucamonga Canyon falls looking for graffiti and trash to remove.
creek.
“The trash does affect the water. All of the oil and fuel is dumped into Cucamonga Creek,” she said in an interview.
She would prefer if the boundary for Aguilar’s 31st District be redrawn to take in nearby forest land. She said Upland and Rancho Cucamonga already have a relationship with Aguilar since he represents residents
in both.
“Whoever is in that office, I would like them to also represent that part of the mountains,” she said.
Cucamonga Canyon has been closed by the U.S. Forest Service for nearly 10 years due to concerns of fires and, since it is not a loop, of getting people out of the canyon in case of a wildfire. Also, when it was open in 2014, thousands of visitors
jammed the road and caused parking hazards.
Many see access to this canyon as just as much a city issue as a U.S. Forest Service issue. Having a congressional representative who knows the cities and that part of the forest could solve access problems, she said.
John Monsen is a Sierra Club member hired as a consultant by the nonprofit