Environment & Energy Daily
Published January 25, 2005

Calif. delegation hopes to get 300K-acre NoCal bill through Congress

By Dan Berman

Members of California's congressional delegation wasted little time in reintroducing legislation that would designate nearly 300,000 acres in five Northern California counties as wilderness and add 21 miles of waterways to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

California Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein reintroduced their bill yesterday, while Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) reintroduced the House version, H.R. 233, earlier this month. The bills cover areas in five counties, including undeveloped coastline along the King Range and the Cache Creek area in Lake and Napa counties.

The Senate passed its version on the final day of the 108th Congress, but the House bill went nowhere. Given that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on the bill last year and the Senate passed the bill last month, sources speculate the bill could move quickly, perhaps even without another hearing.

As for the House, Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) has promised Thompson a hearing on H.R. 233 this year, but still has several reservations about the bill, said committee spokesman Brian Kennedy. Specifically, Pombo is concerned that some areas proposed for designation include roaded areas, contrary to the standards set in the 1964 Wilderness Act, and that the wilderness tag could have negative effects on private property rights and local economies.

Similar concerns led to a highly publicized battle last year over the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness in Washington state. Pombo eventually pulled the bill from a Resources Committee markup after the state congressional delegation backed different versions of the bill, one that included the contested areas, and one without.

But Pamela Flick of the California Wild Heritage Campaign said the group is optimistic the bill can avoid a similar fate in the House and pass Congress this year. "It's definitely worth noting that three wilderness bills came out of the Resources Committee last year," Flick said, citing legislation for wilderness areas in Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

Flick also cited the longstanding effort to garner local support for the bill. "We have work diligently for years to find consensus among the stakeholders, and we hope that will please Pombo because we know he is looking for signs of local support," Flick said.

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