On Jan. 24, the U.S. Forest Service announced the closure of several campgrounds in the San Jacinto Ranger District.
The three campgrounds to be closed, possibly for the entire year, will be the Black Mountain Group Campground, Dark Canyon Campground, and the Ribbonwood Equestrian Campground, according to Naomi Gordon, External and Legislative Affairs Officer for the San Bernardino National Forest.
The reason for the closure and its length was attributed to decreased staffing and budgets for annual maintenance costs. These three were chosen to be closed because they have less use than other District campgrounds.
“Dark Canyon Campground has an additional requirement of a full-time campground host as a result of the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog Recovery agreement between the US Forest Service and US Fish and Wildlife. Efforts in past years to find a suitable host have not been successful,” according to the Forest Service press release.
Other popular campgrounds on the Mountain will remain open. These are the Pinyon Flats Campground (First Come Only, Open Year-Round), the Marion Mountain Campground, the Fern Basin Campground, and the Boulder Basin Campground, which will be open Memorial Day Weekend through late October or early November.
Reservations for the and Boulder Basin, Fern, and Marion campgrounds are available at https://recreation.gov
