Changing needs forcing closure of National Forest recreation sites


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07:03 AM PST on Monday, December 31, 2007

By JANET ZIMMERMAN
The Press-Enterprise

Video: Forest Service considers closing camping sites

When Forest Service recreation officer Jonathan Cook-Fisher looks out over the campground tucked deep into the San Bernardino Mountains, his gaze sweeps over the ponderosa pines and chirping squirrels and lands on a lopsided picnic table.

The table's chipped paint and splintered bench -- probably hacked off for kindling -- jump out at him like flames in a forest.

The dilapidated table is one of many signs of neglect at Tent Peg Group Campground, Cook-Fisher said. Broken wooden parking lot barriers, inaccessible fire rings and sediment runoff threatening endangered species downstream also plague the camp five miles down a rutted dirt road from Green Valley Lake. ........

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_forest31.3296d40.html