The San Bernardino National Forest is a

United States National Forest In the United States, national forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands. National forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed b ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies betw ...

and the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain ...

on the easternmost of the

Transverse Ranges The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa ...

, and the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains on the northernmost of the

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...

. Elevations range from 2,000 to 11,499 feet (600 to 3505 m). The forest includes seven wilderness areas: San Gorgonio, Cucamonga, San Jacinto, South Fork,

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina * Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

, Cahuilla Mountain and Bighorn Mountain. Forest headquarters are located in the city of San Bernardino. There are district offices in Lytle Creek, Idyllwild, and Fawnskin. This site was the filming location for ''

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

'' in 1936; part of the 1969 musical film '' Paint Your Wagon'' was shot here. Free camping is available at 47 different 'Yellow Post' campsites located throughout the forest.

Geography

According to

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

maps of the forest, it consists of two large areas or tracts: a northern and southern portion. The west border of the forest adjoins

Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the U.S. Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County in southern California. The ANF manages a majority of the San Gabriel Mountai ...

and runs north-south about ten miles west of Interstate 15. At its widest parts, the northern portion of the forest runs about on an east–west dimension. It runs about on a north–south dimension. This portion of the forest encompasses the

. The area extends west of Mount San Antonio and Wrightwood in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

. The eastern portion of the forest extends about ten miles east of Big Bear City and includes the San Gorgonio Wilderness. The southernmost portion is bisected by the Riverside County line and borders the Morongo Indian Reservation north of

Cabazon Cabazon (Spanish: ''Cabazón'') is a unincorporated community in Riverside County, California, United States. Cabazon is on the Pacific Crest Trail. In the 21st century, the area has become a tourist stop, due to the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa ...

. At its widest point, the southern portion is about on a north-south dimension and about on an east-west dimension. Toro Peak and the Santa Rosa Indian Reservation are near the south extent. At the north is Snow Creek Village and the Morongo Indian Reservation. Mount San Jacinto State Wilderness is carved out of the southern portion. The community of Idyllwild is surrounded by national forest lands. While most National Forests include lumber resources, these two areas also include: * Residential communities and resorts * Indian resources such as historically important caves and pictographs * The

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

-owned

James Reserve The James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve, a unit of the University of California Natural Reserve System, is a ecological reserve and biological field station located at an altitude of in a wilderness area of the San Jacinto Mountains near Lake F ...

research stationAnthony, Craig E., Unit Chief, Riverside Unit Fire Management Plan 2005, ( Perris, California: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Riverside Unit, 2005.) The two tallest waterfalls in Southern California, Big Falls and

Bonita Falls Bonita Falls are a set of waterfalls in the San Bernardino National Forest, formed by Bonita Creek, that is said to be 370 or 400 feet (113 or 122 meters) in height, but possibly up to 495 feet high because of two undocumented drops in the canyo ...

, are located in the San Bernardino National Forest.

Wilderness areas

There are seven official

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

s lying within San Bernardino National Forest that are part of the

National Wilderness Preservation System The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the Na ...

. One extends into neighboring

and three into land that is managed by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...

(as indicated). * Bighorn Mountain Wilderness (mostly BLM) * Cahuilla Mountain Wilderness * Cucamonga Wilderness (partly in Angeles NF) * San Gorgonio Wilderness (partly BLM) * San Jacinto Wilderness * Santa Rosa Wilderness (mostly BLM) * South Fork San Jacinto Wilderness

Esperanza Fire

The five-member crew (Mark Loutzenhiser, Jess McLean, Jason McKay, Daniel Hoover-Najera and Pablo Cerda) of the San Bernardino National Forest Alandale Fire Station's Engine 57 was fatally burned by a sudden, intense fire run up a steep drainage below their location during the

Esperanza Fire The Esperanza Fire was a large, wind-driven, arson-caused wildfire that started on October 26, 2006, in a river wash near Cabazon, California, west of Palm Springs, California. By October 29, 2006, it had burned over (or ) and was 85% contained. ...

at approximately 7:15 a.m. on October 26, 2006. All five firefighters were overrun by the fire at Twin Pines, located in the San Jacinto Mountains approximately four miles southwest of the City of Cabazon, California. The fire was located near

Beaumont, California Beaumont is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located at the summit of the San Gorgonio Pass, between the San Bernardino Mountains and Mount San Gorgonio to the north, and the San Jacinto Mountains and San Jacinto Peak to ...

in Riverside County. Alandale station is located near the community of Idyllwild.

Firefighting aircraft operations

As of 2001, eight Air Tactical Group Supervisors (ATGSs) work out of the Forest Supervisor's Office in San Bernardino. This position requires completion of an 80-hour CDF/Forest Service attack management course. A Helicopter Coordinator (J-374) course is recommended. San Bernardino National Forest After Fire in 2016

San Bernardino National Forest After Fire in 2016

Vegetation

There are many different species of trees, many

conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

ous, that grow in the mountains. Pines, such as ponderosa pine,

Jeffrey pine ''Pinus jeffreyi'', also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja Califo ...

sugar pine ''Pinus lambertiana'' (commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine) is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. The species name ''lambertiana'' was given by the Scottish botanist David Douglas, ...

Coulter pine The Coulter pine or big-cone pine, ''Pinus coulteri'', is a native of the coastal mountains of Southern California in the United States and northern Baja California in Mexico. Isolated groves are found as far north as Clearlake, California on the ...

, lodgepole pine, single-leaf pinyon, and knobcone pine all thrive here. Other coniferous trees, such as white fir, bigcone Douglas-fir ('' Pseudotsuga macrocarpa''), incense cedar, and

western juniper ''Juniperus occidentalis'', known as the western juniper, is a shrub or tree native to the Western United States, growing in mountains at altitudes of and rarely down to . It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List because it is a wides ...

also thrive here.

Canyon live oak ''Quercus chrysolepis'', commonly termed canyon live oak, canyon oak, golden cup oak or maul oak, is a North American species of evergreen oak that is found in Mexico and in the western United States, notably in the California Coast Ranges. This ...

California black oak ''Quercus kelloggii'', the California black oak, also known as Kellogg oak, is an oak in the red oak section (genus ''Quercus'', section ''Lobatae'', series ''Agrifoliae''), native to western North America. Although genetically separated from the ...

, and

Pacific dogwood ''Cornus nuttallii'', the Pacific dogwood, western dogwood, or mountain dogwood, is a species of dogwood tree native to western North America. Description It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree, reaching tall, often with a canopy spre ...

are other trees that also grow here. The forest contains an estimated of old growth. The most common old-growth forest types are Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forests, white fir (''Abies concolor'') forests,

(''Pinus jeffreyi'') forests, and lodgepole pine (''Pinus contorta'') forests.

Climbing

Gavin Escobar, a former

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

player, and a girl died around noon on September 28, 2022, while

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically a ...

near Tahquitz Rock.

References

Yellow Post Camp Site Info Dated Feb 2014 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yellow_camp_site_info_big_bear.pdf

External links

Official San Bernardino National Forest websiteLocal Hikes.com: Southern California Trails in the San Bernardino National Forest

Off-Road Trails in the San Bernardino National Forest
{{Authority control National Forests of California . San Jacinto Mountains Protected areas of Riverside County, California Protected areas of San Bernardino County, California Parks in Southern California Protected areas established in 1907 1907 establishments in California Protected areas of Southern California Tourist attractions in San Bernardino County, California