Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument - Preservation History

Preservation History

Since the late 19th century, the area has been protected as public lands, beginning as forest reserves and then as part of the San Bernardino National Forest in 1925. In 1928, Mount San Jacinto State Park was established, and has 8,614 acres (34.86 km2) within the national monument boundary. In 1917 and 1927, state game refuges were established on both the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. In the 1960s, the state agency, California Department of Fish and Game began to set aside special areas called ecological reserves to protect certain species and habitats, and there are now three reserves with 28,900 acres (117 km2) of state reserve lands in the monument. Other state agencies involved in conservation of the area include the Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Research Center (University of California Reserve System) and the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy. In addition, the 1964 Wilderness Act established the San Jacinto Wilderness and in 1984, the California Desert Protection Act added the Santa Rosa Wilderness in the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert. Other agencies include local and tribal governments which have habitat conservation plans, including the Habitat Conservation Plan addition to the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians' Tribal Conservation Program. Private conservation organizations, such as The Nature Conservancy, American Land Conservancy, and Friends of the Desert Mountains, have also contributed to the protection of the mountains through land purchases and acquisitions.