San Jose Mercury News
Published January 08, 2004

Bill calls for strongest possible protection for California lands

By TIM MOLLOY
Associated Press

DUARTE, Calif. - Rep. Hilda Solis and environmental activists called on Republican congressional leaders Thursday to support bills permanently granting the strongest possible level of federal protection to more than 2 million acres of California land and more than 300 miles of the state's rivers.

Designating the land as wilderness would give it a level of protection banning development, logging, off-road vehicles, mountain biking, and new mining and cattle grazing. But the Democratic-sponsored bills could have trouble in the Republican-controlled Congress.

The areas affected include the White Mountains north of Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley.

Much of the land is near areas already designated wilderness, and many of the proposed new wilderness areas already have some form of federal protection - though not as stringent as wilderness protection.

The chairman of the House Resources Committee, Rep. Richard Pombo, will closely scrutinize any bill seeking new wilderness protections, committee spokeswoman Nicole Andrews said. Pombo is a Republican rancher whose district includes parts of California's Central Valley and the East Bay.

Andrews said lawmakers could seek less-severe federal protections that would protect the lands without limiting uses like grazing or off-roading.

"Wilderness protection is a surgical tool that needs to be used with precision," she said.

But Keith Hammond, spokesman for the California Wilderness Coalition, said the grazing issue was irrelevant because grazing permits have already been issued for most areas where grazing is possible, and those permits are still renewed even if an area is designated as wilderness.

"This is a myth that we get hit over the head with all the time. Every once in a while we hear from a rancher who is afraid that grazing will be discontinued with wilderness," Hammond said. "That's absolutely not the case."

Solis said granting wilderness status was the only way to ensure the land will remain pristine for future generations.

The El Monte Democrat said she wanted to ensure that the low-income Hispanics in her district, which includes parts of East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, will always have wildlands near their homes, just as her family did when she was young.

"We couldn't afford to go to Yosemite. We couldn't afford to go to Sequoia National Park. We couldn't afford to go to other states," she said at a news conference Thursday. "But I can tell you about the Angeles National Forest."

The news conference was held in a park in Duarte, before the natural backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains, which include the forest.

Solis sponsored a bill covering the Southern California sites, and Rep. Mike Thompson, whose district covers parts of the northern California Coast and Napa Valley, wrote a bill on the Northern California land. Both bills were introduced in October.

Sen. Barbara Boxer wrote the Senate version of the legislation, which was introduced in March.

Gary Sprung, senior national policy adviser for the International Mountain Bicycling Association, said there were good biking spots in one-third of the areas that would be designated as wilderness. The group has asked the lawmakers to seek other levels of federal protection in those areas that would allow biking.

"We want everybody to know that we 100 percent agree with the goal of protecting their land. It's a question of what is the proper legal tool," he said.

© Copyright 2004 by Associated Press