Angeles National Forest

The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the United States Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County in Southern California. The ANF manages a majority of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. The national forest was established in 1908, incorporating the first San Bernardino National Forest and parts of the former Santa Barbara and San Gabriel National Forests. Angeles National Forest headquarters are located in Arcadia, California.

The Angeles National Forest covers a total of 700,176 acres (1,094.0 sq mi; 2,833.5 km2), protecting large areas of the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains. It is located just north of the densely inhabited metropolitan area of Greater Los Angeles. While primarily within Los Angeles County, a small part extends eastward into southwestern San Bernardino County, in the Mount San Antonio ("Mount Baldy") area, and a tiny section also extends westward into northeastern Ventura County, in the Lake Piru area. The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, established in 2014 and managed by the U.S. Forest Service, is largely within the Angeles National Forest. The John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act of 2019 established the Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Monument at and around the ruins of the St. Francis Dam in the Forest's San Francisquito Canyon.

The Angeles National Forest contains five nationally designated wilderness areas. Two of these also extend into neighboring San Bernardino National Forest:

Cucamonga Wilderness — mostly in San Bernardino National Forest Magic Mountain Wilderness Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness San Gabriel Wilderness Sheep Mountain Wilderness — partially in San Bernardino National Forest

Early Native American cultural sites in the inland mountain regions corresponding with the Angeles National Forest are sparse, Radiocarbon dates of 7675 and 7600 years Before Present (BP), taken from a cooking feature in one of the northern drainages of the San Gabriel Mountains, are the oldest known from the central Transverse Ranges. Early material culture indicates extensive use of grinding implements to process small seeds, supplemented by hunting activities. Numerous cogged stones are also found within sites of this period, indicating ceremonial activities. During the Middle Period (5000 BP to 800 BP), sites generally indicate an increase in population and broadening of the resource base in response to population pressure and resource stress. This period is represented by a large array of specialized subsistence sites, characterized as villages, base camps, food processing and procurement sites, special use sites, rockshelters, pictographs, ovens, and cemeteries. A Late Period (800 BP to AD 1769) proliferation of sites within the Angeles National Forest indicates a marked increase in regional population. Village provinces, composed of politically and economically-aligned villages may have existed during this period. Subsistence efforts in the mountains appear to focus on hunting, marked by the appearance of the bow and arrow. Greater regional interaction is marked by an increase in non-local materials, indicative of widespread interregional trade networks. The first reported European contact for the area of the Angeles was in 1769 when the expedition of Gaspar de Portola traveled through the neighboring valleys on his way to Monterey. Early non-Native American use of the Forest centered on early explorers traveling through the area, while early land grants, missions, and townsites surrounded the Forest area. The construction of the missions of San Gabriel Archangel (1771) and San Fernando Rey de España (1797) cemented

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