“SAVE OUR NATIONAL MONUMENTS:
PROTECT THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS NATIONAL MONUMENT” PRESS CONFERENCE

LOS ANGELES (August 18, 2017)—Local elected leaders and environmental and social justice organizations will rally in support of efforts to protect the national monuments currently being threatened by the Trump administration.

A press conference and rally will feature LA-area members of Congress, hosted by San Gabriel Mountains Forever (SGMF), in support of protecting our national monuments, including the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. A recent executive order by President Trump directed Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to examine national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act, and recommendations by the Secretary are expected on August 24.

DATE/TIME: Tuesday, August 22; 9 am

LOCATION: LA Historic Park (1245 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles 90012), near the Welcome Center

SPEAKERS: Congressmember Judy Chu, Congressmember Adam Schiff, Congressmember Jimmy Gomez, El Monte Mayor Andre Quintero; emcee Daniel Rossman (The Wilderness Society, SGMF).

“We need to protect the national monument in our backyard,” said Omar Gomez, the San Gabriel Mountains Forever Chair and Program Director with COFEM, the Council of Mexican Federations. “The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument provides Angelenos with healthy, sustainable, recreational and educational opportunities, and we need the monument status to ensure that we protect our natural resources as well as recreational opportunities in nature for millions of Angelenos and visitors. Since the monument was designated by President Obama in 2014, we have made great strides in improving the area, as well as improving access to it for millions of those living in park-poor communities. This is a time for progress, not going back.”

VISUALS: B-roll of locations within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. In attendance will be eighty-plus Angelenos who regularly visit the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument — as well members of Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, COFEM, Climate Resolve, and other local environmental and community organizations.

CONTACTS: Andrea Alday, andrea_alday@tws.org, 818 512-7628; Stef McDonald, smcdonald@climateresolve.org, 310-403-5754

ABOUT SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS FOREVER: For more than a decade, San Gabriel Mountains Forever (SGMF) has worked to protect, enhance, and provide access for all to our forests, rivers, and parks, and to develop a new, diverse generation of environmental stewards to care for our public lands. SGMF is best known as the lead community group building support for the designation of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.