"Visitors to the San Gabriel Mountains can be forgiven if they see overflowing trash bins, broken marijuana pipes, graffiti and road kill and wonder what became of President Obama's vision for the wilderness.

Nearly a year after he upgraded Southern California's mountainous backyard to national monument status, with a promise of a cleaner and safer wilderness, little has changed.

Last week, Abby McCrea, 34, a marriage and family therapist who rides her bike in the mountains at least once a month, looked at the surrounding landscape and wondered aloud, "New monument? Where is it?"

Trash, broken beer bottles and other blight were present in abundance. Porta Potties and interpretive signs were covered by graffiti. Ravens pecked at dead snakes and squirrels that had been run over by drivers along a two-lane road."

Louis Sahagun reports for the Los Angeles Times August 18, 2015. [2]