San Bernardino National Forest Land Management Plan - Part 2

September 2005 Land Management Plan Part 2
San Bernardino National Forest Strategy
Fire safe conditions along the urban interface within the Place are inconsistent. Private
landowners look to the Forest Service to accomplish the vegetative treatments required for
community defense. The San Bernardino National Forest has aggressively and successfully
engaged with local, county and state planning agencies to keep such treatments within private
developments. Traditionally, fuel treatments have been focused on Front Country watershed
protection, concentrating on age class mosaics and fuelbreaks designed to reduce the threat of
downstream flooding that often occurs after wildland fires. Wildland fires (including the 2003
Grand Prix Fire) have resulted in property and resource losses. A fire cycle that is too frequent is
type-converting plant communities to nonnative annual grasslands creating the flashy fuel type
that perpetuates frequent wildland fire.
The proximity of the Place to the cities along the urban interface emphasizes the need to continue
to develop and maintain good working relationships with other agencies and community
governments. Inconsistent management strategies have led to problems and emphasize the need
to work together and effectively manage the national forests to support common goals in an era
of intense urbanization. Habitat linkages, access, water, and urban infrastructure are just a few of
the problems requiring a more common solution.
The Front Country Place is viewed by the residents of adjacent communities as their 'backyard.'
The area might be characterized as being 'loved' to death. The area is intensively used resulting
in user conflicts, trash, non-permitted uses, parties, car dumping, graffiti, and other activities that
compromise national forest resources.
Recommended Wilderness:
• Cucamonga B (Cucamonga Wilderness).
Total San Bernardino National Forest acres--The Front Country: 13,079
Desired Condition: The Front Country Place is maintained as a natural appearing landscape that
functions as a first impression scenic backdrop for the Los Angeles/San Bernardino/Rancho
Cucamonga metropolitan area, and a national forest portal for its 15 million residents. The
valued landscape attributes to be preserved over time include the rugged and wild appearing
mountain silhouettes, dramatic undisturbed views to urban and mountain landscapes especially
from trails and roads, coast live oaks and bigcone Douglas-fir along the shaded slopes of the
canyons, and a well-defined age-class mosaic in chaparral. Vegetation characteristics provide
high quality habitat for Nelson's bighorn sheep, deer and raptors. Property lines are located and
managed.
Program Emphasis: Community protection from fire is of the highest priority. It will be
emphasized through public education, fire prevention and fuels management in cooperation with
city, county and state agencies.
Management will focus on community protection, dispersed recreation use, and national forest
infrastructure that is sustainable, consistent with the natural setting and integrity, and has
minimal effects to species of management concern and their habitat, including low elevation
riparian areas. Forest health and water needs will be managed to provide for a healthy forest
ecosystem with the in-stream flows necessary to support surface and subsurface resources. Uses
will be balanced and promote the conservation of resource qualities that sustain these uses and
provide attractions for this area.
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