PROTECT WILDERNESS FROM DEVELOPMENT

OPINION

A map of areas Rep. Sam Farr is seeking to protect from development with his Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act looks rather crazy-quilt, but there's definitely a pattern there. The land, more than 50,000 acres scattered in pieces along the Santa Lucia mountains, would build on the significant areas there already under federal wilderness protection — the highest protection available — and is carved in ways to try to make the whole plan as palatable to area landowners as possible.

While the land is all federally owned, there are places where it abuts private property or surrounds it altogether. Pieces also border Fort Hunter Liggett. Farr's office, with help from others, most notably the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, spent about a year mapping which land to put into the wilderness protection bill and meeting with people in the area to lay the groundwork.

In the planning process, Farr's office sent out about 180 letters to affected people, got responses from about 40 and met with a dozen or so to go over the plans and in some instances make such changes as boundary shifts.

That effort should pay off with desirable complements to the existing Ventana and Silver Peak wilderness areas, extending the federal ban against development or commercial exploitation and preserving more of this stunning area that's home to a wide variety of plants and animals. Farr's bill, HR 4750, still has to make its way out of committee, past the full House, get through the Senate in some form and win President Bush's approval, but chances look good. Less certain are the prospects for a much broader wilderness protection bill by Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, that includes the land in Farr's bill. Its breadth — covering more than 2.5 million acres throughout the state — makes it more of a target and pieces of it have stirred up opposition in some areas.

But the fate of the Monterey County land isn't inextricably tied to that bill. A version of Farr's bill, once it passed the House, could go to the Senate for consideration. Or the land it covers could be folded into an omnibus environmental bill at the end of the year. The lack of controversy that surrounds it makes a good candidate for either of those paths.

Officially making this rather wild land wilderness, and preserving it for future generations to enjoy, makes sense.

Copyright © 2002 by the MONTEREY COUNTY HERALD