Cleveland forest closed indefinitely by federal officials

By Ed Zieralski
STAFF WRITER

November 5, 2003

The U.S. Forest Service has closed the Cleveland National Forest to all recreation.

The Forest Service posted the news on its Web site about 5 p.m. yesterday. A spokeswoman at forest Supervisor Anne Fege's office yesterday confirmed the closure. It covers all 833,988 acres of the national forest and includes burned and nonburned areas.

"It's been closed since Oct. 26," said Joan Wynn, spokeswoman for the Cleveland National Forest.

The length of the closure is undetermined, she said.

"I haven't had a chance to sit down and talk with anyone, but once I do,
I'll have a better handle on when it might reopen," Wynn said.

Wynn said Fege closed the forest after the Cedar fire began Oct. 25 because of "extreme fire activity and the continued threat to life and property."

But Wynn was on vacation at the time, and no official release about the closure was issued. Wynn put the closure notice on the Forest Service Web
site at http://www.r5.fs.fed.us/cleveland.

Chuck Raysbrook, manager of the state Department of Fish and Game's South Coast region, said the department had not received written notification about the closure.

Fish and Game is in the midst of its annual deer season, with rifle seasons
open for bucks and antlerless deer. Buck season ends Nov. 23; doe season ends Sunday, a half-hour after sunset.

Cindy Hailey, office technician at Fish and Game's regional office in San
Diego, has been telling those who inquire that the forest is closed, even
though until late yesterday there had been nothing in writing.

Hunters, hikers, campers and others who use the forest for recreation have been shut out indefinitely.

Last year the Forest Service closed the forest for the first two weeks of
deer season because of the threat of wildfires. This year, it opened the
forest for deer season, and on the first day, a lost and disoriented hunter,
Sergio Martinez, 33, of West Covina, was cited for setting a signal fire that apparently ignited the Cedar fire, the worst wildfire in state history.

The closure has upset many forest users.

Larry Edwards of San Diego has been hunting in the county for 50 years. Edwards doesn't understand why the forest has to be closed in areas that
were not burned, such as below Interstate 8 east of Pine Valley.

"I can't fight the Forest Service on it this year, but there's no problems below I-8 right now, and it has actually rained out there the last couple of days," Edwards said. "That should be open to hunting and the fair pursuit of game."

Bureau of Land Management areas remain open, but Greg Hill, the Bureau's planning and environmental coordinator based in Palm Springs, said hunters and others should keep off burned areas. Of the 46,291 acres that burned in the Otay fire, 22,500 were bureau land, including much of the 18,500-acre Otay Wilderness.

"We'd like the public to help us out and stay off any areas that have been
burned in and around Otay," Hill said. "Up until the fire, it really wasn't a popular place for people to go or hunt. There's a lot of illegal immigrants tracking through there, and it had really dense thicket. Now the big concern is all the dirt roads that are clear and open after the fire. We're concerned about off-road use."

Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co