Deukmejian Wilderness Park / Le Mesnager Barn

PARK IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

MONITORING POST FIRE FLASH FLOODS AND DEBRIS FLOWS (Posted 2-4-10) The Station Fire of August and September 2009 burned 160,000 acres in Los Angeles County. Approximately 690 acres of the 709 acre Deukmejian Wilderness Park in northern Glendale were burned on September 1, 2009. Rainfall on steep burned basins can quickly transform into potentially dangerous flash floods and debris flows. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) conducts detailed monitoring of precipitation, runoff, and erosion. Three monitoring sites have been established in Dunsmore Canyon to provide information from the “heart of the fire” to NOAA’s National Weather Service. This data is used to issue warnings, make decisions and to advance the understanding of post-fire runoff, erosion, and the debris-flow generation process. Monitoring equipment at the sites measure rainfall, flow stage and bed pore pressure, and soil moisture. A solar/battery powered video camera is used to provide a visual record of the flow and channel change. During rain events, video is recorded at four frames per second. Still images from the camera are transmitted to the internet everyday at noon and every five minutes during rain events. The sites can be viewed at the following websites: Hillslope Array Dunsmore Channel Dunsmore Site 2 In addition, you can view weather information from Mount Lukens (tallest peak north of the Park)
WINTER WEATHER PREPARATION & DEUKMEJIAN PARK VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES Volunteer opportunities during the fall/winter season will include filling sand bags as part of the general winter weather preparation efforts. In the spring, volunteer opportunities at the Deukmejian Wilderness Park will include the removal of exotic plants, trail rehabilitation, tree planting, and park clean up. SIGN UP
FIRE DAMAGE PHOTOS On September 1st, a tactical burn took place in Deukmejian Wilderness Park in a successful effort to prevent the Station Fire from reaching homes in northern Glendale. While the developed area of the park – including the picnic area, restrooms, amphitheater, meadow, and historic barn – were saved, the undeveloped portions of the park sustained damage. For the health and safety of our visitors, the park is presently closed until further notice. The hillsides within the park are very unstable, the air quality is very poor, and terrain is full of ash. In addition, the park is still being utilized by the fire department as a staging area. We ask the public to refrain from using the park until it is safe to do so. Please watch this website for further information about the re-opening of the park. In the meantime, we provide these photos of the undeveloped area of the park so that residents will understand the damage that has occurred and the risks involved in using the area. Click on a photo to the right to see a larger version. >>

• Download the Deukmejian Wilderness Park brochure for more information.

• The Wilderness Park occupies a rugged 709-acre site in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains at the northernmost extremity of the City of Glendale.

• The park is predominantly chaparral and sage scrub, but includes secluded streamside woodlands and scattered remnants of big-cone spruce woodland in Dunsmore and Cook's Canyons. Trails on the site provide spectacular views of the Crescenta Valley and the Los Angeles basin.

• The park is bordered on the north, west, and east sides by the Angeles National Forest. The south edge of the park is primarily a County debris basin and sediment placement site (spreading ground).

• Park elevations range from about 2159 at the park entry to 4775 in the northeast corner of the site. The barn is at about 2330 elevation.

• The site is relatively undisturbed except for an area of about 12 acres in the southern part of the property known as the Park Center area, where the historic Le Mesnager barn, the Glendale Park Ranger Station, site parking, restrooms, picnic facilities, and walking paths are located.

• The property was acquired in 1898 by George Le Mesnager, a French emigrant, prominent winegrower, and prominent Los Angeles businessman. Between 1914 - 1918, Louise Le Mesnager constructed the stone barn and shed along with a number of other buildings that no longer exist.

• The barn was used as a stable, for the storage of equipment and for the storage of grapes prior to their shipment to the Le Mesnagers' Los Angeles Winery. It operated in this capacity only until 1920, when prohibition ended the winemaking industry.

• In 1933, prohibition was repealed and a winemaking operation once again began in the barn.

• In December of that year a massive fire swept the hillside area, gutting the barn and shed and destroying the winemaking equipment and most of the smaller buildings.

• The fire was followed by major flooding during the rainy season, which did considerable damage in Glendale and led to construction in 1934-35 of the County dam and debris basin adjacent to the site.

• The barn was rebuilt with a new arch roof and residential quarters on the upper floor. The Le Mesnager family moved to the site in 1937 and lived there until 1960.

• In 1968 the property was sold to a developer who intended to construct homes on the site. The City of Glendale purchased the site in 1988 and renamed it Deukmejian Wilderness Park.

• The stone barn on the site is of historical significance as a relatively rare example of a two-story vernacular rock structure. However, it is not included in any register of historic places except that of the City of Glendale.

Barn 1932

Barn 1935

Le Mesnager Family

Barn 1975

Amphitheater

Grapevines

Picnic Area

8/11/2008