It’s worse than being on the bad side of Santa’s naughty or nice ledger: the San Gabriel National Monument has joined the travel magazine Fodor’s “No List 2024.”

Sites land on the list for several reasons. For example, of the nine “winners” this year, Venice bellyflopped because of over-tourism. This is nothing new, but, as the mag says a five Euro tourism fee is likely to do little to curb the tourists-to-residents ratio that landed the beautiful city on the list last year and in 2018. It joins Athen and Mt. Fuji in this category.

Then there’s the “water quality and sufficiency” category that includes Lake Superior, the Ganges and Koh Samui, Thailand. Lots to write about here, but it’s too depressing to pen. You can read about it >>HERE.

Then finally the USA makes the list in “trash production,” along with Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, and Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Up until this point, Californians could be rightly proud of the many lists our state treasures have been included in, such as the National Geographic National Parks Road Trip, which features the Redwood National and State parks. Now?

Public outcry is the only way to save this beautiful area we all love. Get vocal. Get loud. This land truly is “our land,” as the song says, “this land was made for you and me.”

See you on the river, Jim Burns