Contra Costa Times
Published November 21, 2002

Big Sur preservation awaits signature
Nearly 55,000 acres will join protected state wilderness if President Bush signs legislation

By Mike Taugher

The biggest additions in eight years to California's wilderness are in a
bill headed to President Bush's desk this week after the Senate approved the
Big Sur portion of a more ambitious statewide land protection plan.

Nearly 55,000 acres in rugged coastal mountains near the Big Sur coast and
in the Pinnacles National Monument would become permanently off-limits to
off-road vehicles, mountain bikes, oil and gas drilling, or any other kind
of mechanized activity.

"It is some of the most beautiful country in California. It is just rugged
in the extreme," said Dave Westmun, a conservation organizer for the Sierra
Club in Oakland.

The bill, written by Rep. Sam Farr, D-Salinas, includes areas proposed for
wilderness protection in a broader bill by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. The
Boxer bill would add 2.5 million acres to California's 14 million-acre
wilderness system, which is already the largest network of wilderness of any
state other than Alaska.

"I hope this gives (Boxer's) bill the momentum to protect pristine lands
throughout the state," Farr said.

The areas that would be added to the Ventana and Silver Peak wilderness
areas of the Los Padres National Forest include chaparral-covered ridges,
oak woodlands, old-growth redwoods and pristine streams, according to
wilderness advocates. The area is home to several rare plants and animals,
including the endangered California condor.

All of the new wilderness areas in the bill awaiting the president's
signature would be in Farr's district in Monterey and San Benito counties.

Wilderness areas remain open to primitive forms of recreation, such as
hiking, fishing, backpacking and boating, but they are places where people
and the trappings of civilization are allowed only a temporary presence.
Supporters of the California measure are optimistic that despite
disagreements between the White House and California environmentalists, the
Big Sur bill will become law.

Although wilderness bills are often controversial, they can wend their way
into law if they pass muster with a state's two senators and representatives
of the most affected areas.

And Republican presidents have a long history of signing wilderness bills.
Only one of the 134 wilderness bills to pass before this week was vetoed,
according to the Wilderness Society.

Don Amador, a critic of Boxer's wilderness proposal and the western
coordinator for the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a group of off-road enthusiasts,
said his organization had little problem with the Big Sur additions.

"There's not a lot of mechanized or motorized recreation in that area,"
Amador said.

Boxer called passage of Farr's bill "an important first step" in adding
wilderness.

Amador called that "wishful thinking."

The Big Sur wilderness bill would be the state's biggest wilderness bill
since the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 set aside 3.5 million
acres of Southern California desert as wilderness.

ON THE WEB
Photos of the areas proposed for wilderness protection in legislation that
now awaits President Bush's signature can be seen at www.ventanawild.org.

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