20 Years of Advocacy: How Mountain Bikers Protected the San Gabriel Mountains

Last week, the President announced the expansion of two national monuments in California, including the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Steve Messer, the president of the Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association and co-founder and current board president of the California Mountain Biking Coalition has been working and recreating in the San Gabriels for 40 years. He sat down with us to share the story of the monument expansion and the work that mountain bikers and other conservationists have put into protecting this landscape for decades.

The President just expanded the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument! How long have you been advocating for the San Gabriels?

I've been recreating in the Angeles National Forest since I moved here 40 years ago. After 20 years of seeing trails deteriorate, and learning the Forest Service doesn't do all the work they used to, I began volunteering for trail work in the early 2000s.

In 2003 (then Congresswoman) Hilda Solis passed legislation authorizing a special resource study of the San Gabriel Watershed and Mountains. As a volunteer, I learned about the public meetings to inform that study, and that kicked off my first real engagement in advocacy. As a volunteer with CORBA’s trail crew, I’d become much more aware of the Forest Service’s ever-decreasing budgets, and the challenges facing land managers. I still have a hard copy of the study’s findings.

The resource study seems like where a lot of the work to protect the San Gabriels came from. What was that process like and how did it shape the protections that followed, especially for mountain biking?

The final study was released in 2013, and it found that there were significant resources in the San Gabriel Mountains worthy of protection. In addition to better protecting natural resources, the study recommended that the National Park Service partner with the Forest Service to create and manage a new National Recreation Area in the San Gabriel Mountains.

It was then that Representative Judy Chu (CA-28) introduced a bill in Congress to create a National Recreation Area, but the bill stalled. Chu and numerous local advocates urged the Obama administration to take action when Congress wouldn’t. In 2014 President Obama came to California to sign the proclamation designating the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. The mountain biking community had been fully engaged in the Special Resource Study and supported the NRA legislation. But we weren’t involved in the push for a National Monument, and didn’t know exactly what it would mean, or how it would differ from the NRA we were supporting. Fortunately, the proclamation and preamble language spoke extensively about recreation and equitable access as two goals of the monument. As the forest management plan was amended over the subsequent years, we were happy to see many of the study’s findings and recommendations reflected in the new management plan.

Protecting places often takes a collaborative effort, can you tell us more about the groups and individuals involved?

In December 2014, having expressed my disappointment in not having been engaged in the National Monument campaign, I was invited to serve on a collaborative advisory group that was being formed to represent the public and diverse stakeholders to the Forest Service as they figured out how to manage a new National Monument. The San Gabriel Mountains Community Collaborative has met every other month since 2014.

The wonderful thing about the Collaborative was that it brought together people who were supportive of and also opposed to the monument. There were also some on the fence. I knew going into these meetings, because of the resource study, there were things in the San Gabriels worth protecting. What I didn't know though was what a monument designation was going to do to mountain bike access.

We were all assured that there was no intention to exclude anyone from the forest, let alone any particular user group. It was powerful to work alongside and find so much common ground with all these stakeholders. Everyone from utility companies, to outdoor companies, recreation interests, local government, conservation organizations, and environmental justice groups—it really brought people together with a common goal to protect and support the San Gabriel Mountains.

What about these meetings ending up being beneficial, for continuing this work as an individual and for mountain bikers as a user group?

It has really opened a lot of doors for me and led the way to so many new relationships. I think my participation has changed the way some folks think about mountain bikers. Before I was engaged in all of this, the mountain bikers were thought of as the ‘renegades,’ going too fast on trails. Many collaborative members didn't know that mountain biking organizations were out there doing the lion’s share of building, maintaining, and protecting multi-use trails. It’s been an opportunity to educate them on what our community stands for, and what we have done to benefit the trails and the forest.

What are your reflections on the monument expansion, what it took to get here, and what do you want others to know about advocacy?

This work is a marathon, not a sprint. My immediate takeaway is that these things take time. The speed of government is not the speed of business or private industry. To be inclusive also takes time, you want to make sure that nobody is being left behind. It really takes a lot of outreach, and a lot of effort to be effective.

These mountains were here long before I got here, and they're going to be here long after me. Having them protected as a national monument, I’m confident they’ll be here for mountain bikers, and other recreationists for hundreds of years.

Citizen advocacy was a big reason the monument was expanded. In June 2023, 400 people came out to express their support for the expansion. I didn't get to speak until 9:30 at night, after having heard from well over 100 oral commenters. This was really telling—the level of support for these mountains is real.

The existing monument, after ten years, is just now reaping some of the benefits of its designation. There’s a transit to trails shuttle program in development, connecting public transit to trailheads. There’s a new visitor education plan, a new volunteer website, and an interpretive signage program, all being led by Collaborative members and partners. With the expansion, we’re confident there will be more improvements over time.

The community has expressed overwhelming support for the monument, and the administration has taken action. We’re really thankful. This expansion is a recognition of the importance of protecting the entire mountain range, its ecosystem services for water, air quality and wildlife, and the incredible outdoor recreation opportunities they provide.