Built by USFS in 1942, this dangerous dam filled up with sediment decades ago. The Forest Service hasn't even inspected it in ten years. Now they have removed it from the National Inventory of Dams, claiming that the 81-foot tall, 120-foot wide dam is only a "retaining wall."
After an appalling slow response to the Station Fire in 2009, little has been done by the USFS to deal with the devastation it caused and the followup flood the next year. Large parts of the Angeles National Forest in this area remained closed by order of the USFS.
Exotic, invasive species have spread through large areas of the fire-scarred forest threatening the very nature of the forest and the quality of habitat there, but nothing has been done in the historic Arroyo Seco Canyon. "It's too difficult," one forest service employee stated.
The Gabrielino Trail up the Arroyo Seco is a historic national trail, but it has been closed because the switchback section around Brown Canyon Dam washed out due to the fire and flood. That was six years ago, and the USFS has taken no steps to restore the trail. For the first time in history, it is not possible for hikers, equestrians or bicyclists to go up the canyon.
Elmer Smith Bridge
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