Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument is a protected area of the type of a National Monument in the U.S. state of California. It was built in October 2000 by the U.S. Congress in order to preserve the biodiversity of the mountain range and its cultural significance for the Cahuilla Indians. The area is jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the United States Forest Service, which areas have remained under the Federal possession before the protection assignment, and the Tribal Council of the Cahuilla, which are part of the land.
Description
The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains are the northernmost part of the mountain chain which forms the peninsula of Baja California in Mexico and covers around 100 km along the border of the United States ranges. It is referred to in English as the Peninsular Ranges. Its highest point in the reserve is the 3292 m high San Jacinto Peak. In the east, the Sonoran Desert is the Joshua Tree National Park, in the southeast of the Salton Sea. In the northeast, the San Bernardino Mountains close to, nearly 100 km to the west is Los Angeles.
The area is characterized by the climate of the surrounding deserts. The mountain range is cut by deep canyons, which provide shade and moisture. Animal and plant species that are specially adapted to these environmental conditions live in them. These include Rubber Boa, the California tortoise, several species of lizards and three types rattlesnakes. Also, living in the reserve bighorn sheep and coyotes, and golden eagles. Bald Eagles wintering in the area. In the plant world, especially ferns are noteworthy shaping the bottom and the side walls of the canyon.
Approximately 36 % of the area of the protected area are subject to the further protection as Wilderness Area. The Santa Rosa Mountains Wilderness and the Santa Rosa Wilderness completely and the San Jacinto Wilderness are partially integrated into the National Monument. About 20% of the national monuments belong to the San Bernardino National Forest, a national forest.
Cultural History
The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains are continuously inhabited by the ancestors of today's Agua Caliente tribe of Cahuilla since at least 3000 years. They lived in family groups or small villages, which they built usually at the exit of the canyon. Some of them had different villages for the summer and the winter, so as to conform to the climatic conditions.
In reserve petroglyphs, pit houses and foundations can be found by stone buildings. Several of the mountains are the Cahuilla as sacred and special consideration in the protection concept.
Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument today
The protected area is affected by sharp conflicts between the interests of private landowners and the beneficial owner and the protection objectives. In the National Monument various areas are privately owned incorporated, causing the faults and impairments. The high population density in southern California and the proximity to the metropolis of Los Angeles lead to a strong tourist use, which affects a burden on nature. Focus is the environment of mountain station of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. In addition, the use by mountain bikers and illegal driving on the mountains with SUVs are considered a threat.
By 2002, a care and use plan was developed, the measures are largely limited to visitor management, blocking particularly sensitive or pre-loaded areas, the maintenance of the trails and archaeological research on the Indian population of the mountains. In addition, the spread of tamarisk is fought, a Strauchart that occurs as a neophyte in the area and threatens to displace the native plant life and the animal species adapted to it and change the water balance of the area.
Since 1996 there is an information center for the area in Palm Desert, which was taken over as a visitor center at the founding of the National Monuments.