Rename Los Padres National Forest

It is time, once again, to change the name of our national forest. Los Padres National Forest is not the homeland of the Spanish padres and none of our missions are in the national forest. Los Padres is the ancestral homeland of native people who lived there for thousands of years. My friends who are Native Americans with ancestral ties to the first people have little love for the Spanish padres. But to tag the national forest with a name representing the people is also problematic as they lived in various tribal groups speaking different languages — Chumash, Costanian, Esselen, Salinian, and Tataviam.

Moving beyond the folly of naming something as magnificent as a national forest after people, please consider that our forest was also the ancestral range of California condors. It was the last stronghold of the condors before our capture, breeding, and release program brought them back from the brink of extinction and spread them in small numbers around the Southwest. The condor would be an appropriate symbol to represent our forest.

I have hiked the length of Los Padres twice. I have seen condors at the southern end near the Sespe Condor Sanctuary and at the northern end near Big Sur. I have seen no evidence of Spanish padres in the national forest. There is one site where pines were felled by native labor and hauled to build roof rafters for at least one mission. And, of course, water flowed to the missions just as it flows today to many of our towns and cities. The national forest has provided a number of resources. Perhaps the most valuable to us all is simply the provision of clean water.