Book highlights diversity of Santa Monica Mountains
By Sophia Fischer sfischer@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers MOUNTAIN MEN- From left, writer Matthew Jaffee and photographer Tom Gamache take in the scenery in the local mountains which are the subject of their new book, "The Santa Monica Mountains: Range on the Edge."

The Santa Monica Mountains are much more than hills surrounding our homes. Made up of grasslands, oak groves, beaches and canyons, the 50-mile-long range is vital to those who live in and around it, according to Tom Gamache and Matthew Jaffe, two

ocal residents who have pub

ished a book about the venerable mountains.

Gamache, a photographer, and Jaffe, a writer, compiled a hardcover, coffee table book called "The Santa Monica Mountains: Range on the Edge," ($40, Angel City Press, Santa Monica).

Filled with Gamache's colorful photographs of various moun

ain scenes and Jaffe's rich political and cultural narrative, the book reveals information about the mountains that even the most experienced hiker or conservationist might not know.

"We have a place we can go to reconnect with nature. Few people in metropolitan areas in the country have this opportunity," Jaffe said. "The Santa Monicas have their own beauty and unique qualities."

Gamache spent countless hours traversing the more than 153,000 acres of the range waiting for just the right conditions to take 15,000 shots over 25 years. The book contains 140 striking images

"Other places have been photographed often, but here we were starting from scratch," Gamache said. "People see the mountains as just a backdrop, but it has some of the most enduring habitats in the world and the best Mediterranean habitat in North America."

The Santa Monica Mountains are one of the most publicly visible mountain ranges in the world due to their popularity as a backdrop in movies such as "Planet of the Apes" and television shows such as "M.A.S.H."

People often don't realize it, but the Santa Monicas also contain well-known sites such as Dodger Stadium, Laurel and Coldwater canyons, the Hollywood sign, Beverly Hills, the Getty Museum, Pacific Palisades and Malibu. The range has some of the most valuable real estate in the world.

News reports of the recent fires in Griffith Park never mentioned that the park is in the Santa Monica Mountains, Jaffe pointed out.

"With all of the writing done about Southern California over the years, the mountains haven't been identified and taken seriously as their own place and the role they play for Southern California. They really define the geology of L.A." Jaffe said.

The mountains are an integral part of the entire Southern California culture, from the '60s music scene to the art and architecture that goes hand in hand with the region.

The book credits the efforts of many individuals, groups and agencies that have helped preserve the mountains.

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, created in 1978, came about after proposed freeways and even a nuclear power plant, planned for Corral Canyon in Malibu, were defeated.

"It's exotic," Gamache said. "People brought up here don't see it."

"It's easy to take a place for granted," Jaffe said. "It's not an accident. Protected acreage is due to political will."

A senior writer with Sunset magazine in Los Angeles, Jaffe writes about Southern California culture and environment. He won a national award for an article about the local citrus industry.

Gamache's photographs have appeared in National Park publications and posters, in National Geographic, the Los Angeles Times and in Sierra Club books and calendars. Gamache is from New Hampshire but has lived in California for 35 years. Jaffe, who lives in Calabasas, grew up in Chicago, where "nature was always somewhere else."

"I was envious of those in California and other places where nature is within a few minutes of people's houses," Jaffe said.

In the course of compiling the book both men learned new things about the range. They discovered that water can be found wherever sycamores grow and that the new green of spring lasts for only a short week.

"I was surprised by how much color there actually is. Seasons here do exist," Gamache said. "Everything is so temporal here. Nothing is ever the same."

Jaffe credits the lush 2005-06 winter weather with allowing the men to see the mountains in a whole new way, at their peak filled with abundant water, plant and animal life.

There is still much to do in the way of protecting the range, Gamache said.

"Very seldom do people realize the mountains interconnect with our communities," he said. "It's only 50 miles long. What happens in the city affects out here."

Gamache said the mountains have to be taken as an "ecological whole."

The Santa Monicas are home to one of five remaining Mediterranean ecosystems in the world. People need the open space to help them live, think and ponder.

"If you watch TV all day you have no original creation," Jaffe said. "If you never leave the mall and its signs and windows, then your ability to visualize is curtailed. . . . The mountains in a way are like lungs for all of us. You can come out and breathe."