By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The mountains chapter of the Sierra Club meets at St Richard’s Church in Skyforest to learn more ways to support the natural ecology of the mountain. They host outings, hikes and educational sessions to educate locals on ways to protect the environment.
Dr. Jennifer Alford from Cal State San Bernardino (UCSB) brought several of her graduate students to the recent meeting. They are conducting a multi-year study of the health of the water on the mountain. They explained their testing techniques and the preliminary results from several of the field study test sites.
They discussed how massive disturbances of land, such as construction, can affect riparian flow and water quality as well as the surrounding lands, wildlife and the future of an area. Once disturbed, it is difficult if not impossible to restore an ecosystem with all the various elements and multi-level food chains. With the current testing, they will have samples to contrast impacts any future development will inflict into the ecosystems.
Then it was brought to the attention of the Sierra Club members the massive $3.5 million development being constructed on 55 to 80 acres of land off Manitoba Drive and Alberta Lane in Lake Arrowhead near Highway 173.
It is officially owned by the Arrowhead Training Camp Trust and funded by a wealthy Orange County group. They have been in violation of the Wetlands act, plus allowing runoff into the creek. The land was previously forested and now has been mostly clear-cut, leaving only sand and soil. It is estimated they have cut 120 mature trees on the Lake Arrowhead property so far. They have graded the hillsides more than 30 percent, which will erode the soil into the creek. They have chipped the cut trees into wood chips, possibly to disguise how many trees were removed, it was reported by Bob Sherman at the Sierra Club meeting.
The developers are planning a water flow change since the have a large pond which will affect Willow Creek but, according to official records, they have not verifid the purpose of the flow change. They are violating environmental policies with the grading and water flow changes. The Sierra Club has requested County Land Use Services to issue an immediate stop to this development, due to the negative effects it is causing to the area, until they acquire the proper permits and follow the law. They do not have the proper permits from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife nor from the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, which are both required for such a serious impact on the streams and water in the area.
The Sierra Club said they “need to make a lot of noise and to have letters written to the various departments which have jurisdiction, including Fish and Wildlife. It has been determined they have large fish in their large pond and introducing foreign species into an area may have down-stream implications down the road.”
The area is zoned “single family residential” but no approved development plan for the parcel has been submitted to the county. Although the area was formerly a forested hiking area used by local residents, the current owners/management now won’t allow anyone on the property.
The Sierra Club members watching the project said they can only take photos of the obvious damage from the road and can’t get close enough to know what is currently occurring on the interior of the large parcel. They can’t see anything over the edge with the steep slopes into the ravine from Alberta Lane. Even the easement road has been blocked by the current property owners. The use of a drone was suggested.
The Sierra Club will be watching and filing complaints as violations occur. However, they would like the public’s help. They announced there will be a public Lake Arrowhead Municipal Advisory Council meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 9 at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Station at 6 p.m. They hope the community will attend and express their concerns about this project.
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