Mission 17 · Cleveland National Forest · CA · 2026
Laguna Mountain restoration
The U.S. Forest Service has a decision open here and is taking comments on it. Cleveland National Forest, California.
The agency files it as “Laguna Mountain Forest Restoration”
Record openthe agency stopped taking comments September 27 · what you find still counts
Places to check
1
People it would take
6
Said they’ll go
0
Photographs filed
0
Opened
September 7
Window closed
September 27
Evidence
Nothing filed yet.
No photograph has been filed on this mission yet. The first one lands here with its fingerprint, where its location came from, and how far inside the agency’s own boundary it was taken. The places to check are below.
The objective
What we are testing.
Cleveland National ForestStream crossings
“the structures now impede the natural flow of sediment and water through the meadow and are contributing to ongoing erosion”
The agency wrote that in its own document, under Nonfunctional Check Dam Removal / Table 1. Nobody has been out to check it.
Walk Kemp Spur Trail along the west edge of Laguna Meadow, between the Chico-Gatos Connector and Meadow Spur junctions, and find the three old rock and concrete check dams. Photos showing each dam, whether it is broken or buried, and whether water and sediment are cutting around or behind it.
Everything else the document says about the ground.
6 more sentences, in the agency’s own words, with where each one sits in the document. Any of them is fair game for a photograph.
“Jeffrey pine persists in 30 of 36 stands, but only as widely scattered residual trees averaging 2.18 trees per acre (TPA)”
Under Purpose and Need: Why is action needed?Where: the 36 previously forested stands within the proposed reforestation project area on the Laguna Mountain Plateau
“The remaining 15 stands contained no detectable natural regeneration”
Under Purpose and Need: Why is action needed?Where: the 15 stands within the reforestation project area lacking natural regeneration
“Encroachment was identified by observing distinct bands of younger conifers at meadow and stream corridors, and in some cases, within meadow interiors”
Under Removal of Conifer EncroachmentWhere: wet meadows and stream corridors within the project area, including Laguna Meadow
“the trail concentrates storm runoff onto the tread, leading to downcutting, channelized flow, accelerated sediment transport into Chico Creek and Laguna Meadow, and active gullying along Chico Creek”
Under Chico-Gato Connector Trail RerouteWhere: the Chico-Gato Connector Trail at its junction with Wooded Hill Road
“Currently, most meadows across the project area are gullied, with varying degrees of severity”
Under Effects of Check Dam Removal and Gully Repair on Sediment Transport and Meadow HydrologyWhere: meadows across the Laguna Mountain project area, including Laguna Meadow
“Currently the Descanso Ranger District is 88 percent chaparral and 4 percent forest cover, and this project encompasses nearly all forest cover on the district”
Under Effects of Reforestation Strategy (Species Mix, Seed Source, Chaparral Interaction) on Forest Recovery and ResilienceWhere: Descanso Ranger District, Cleveland National Forest, encompassing the Laguna Mountain project area
The window shut September 27. Evidence still counts: it backs the objections from people who did comment, goes to the lawyers, and outlives the decision.