News coverage from the North County Times on Rep. Issa's Wilderness proposal:

Issa proposes 21,000 acres of wilderness
Two additions would 'mirror' new protected areas in Riverside County
By DAVE DOWNEY | Saturday, July 11, 2009

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, is proposing to build on the foundation of recent wilderness additions in Riverside County and protect more than 21,000 acres of chaparral, canyons and forest next door in northern San Diego County from development and vehicles.

Issa has drafted preliminary language for federal legislation that would designate 13,635 acres of additional wilderness in the Beauty Mountain area north of Warner Springs and 7,796 acres of wilderness in the Palomar Mountain area east of Fallbrook, Frederick Hill, a spokesman for the congressman, said by telephone Friday.

Both areas are directly across the county line from the new Beauty Mountain Wilderness and newly expanded Agua Tibia Wilderness in Riverside County east of Temecula.

"This legislation will protect and preserve lands for use by current and future generations," Issa said in a statement. "I'm asking for the public to review and share their ideas so that this wilderness area is created in full consultation with those who will enjoy the benefits of protecting this land and live near it."

Hill said the congressman who represents north San Diego County and a portion of southwest Riverside County plans to hold off introducing the legislation until September, to give time for people to comment on the plan. He said Issa will take suggestions through Aug. 17.

"We want to have this bill done in a right way, not in a rush or a hurry," Hill said.

Issa is hopeful the legislation will pass during this Congress, which completes its work in late 2010, he said, but wilderness bills often take a long time to refine and move through the two legislative houses in the nation's Capitol.

Hill said the proposal covers mostly federal lands, plus some private lands bought by an environmental coalition for the purpose of preserving permanently.

"We're not talking about taking anybody's private property," Hill said.

With the goal of preserving scenery for humans and habitat for animals, wilderness areas generally prohibit motor vehicle use, mining and development. But the Issa legislation would permit a campground and corrals on the edge of the Beauty Mountain Wilderness and would not restrict firefighting efforts in the protected areas.

Issa's proposal piggybacks on the March signing of a massive national wilderness bill by President Obama that designated nearly 200,000 acres of wilderness in Riverside County. The Riverside County portion of the legislation, authored by Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, was several years in the making.

"These are sort of the mirror images of two of the areas in that (national) bill," said Jim Mathews, government affairs representative for Campaign for America's Wilderness, which has been working with Issa's office to help craft the legislation.

"It complements what Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack did with her bill," Mathews said, in a telephone interview from Washington. "It's just such a great follow-up to all the work she has done."

Dave Voss, forest and wilderness committee co-chairman for the Sierra Club's San Diego chapter, often hikes Cutca Valley Trail in the proposed addition to Agua Tibia Wilderness near Palomar Mountain.

"It's a great place for hiking and for backpacking, and for getting away from it all," Voss said. "It's also a great place for hunting."

Voss said the area spreads across three different types of habitat: oak woodland, chaparral and pine forest.

Wendy Sparks of Fallbrook, organizer of the North San Diego Wild Heritage Campaign, is familiar with Beauty Mountain, an area with chaparral, a seasonal spring, oak grove and meadow.

"This is something that we really welcome," Sparks said. "It just completes the picture for us. We will be able to look at both sides of Beauty Mountain and know that it is protected."

She contends preserving areas like these is good for the region.

"This is what Southern California looked like before we all moved here, and it is something that we should be saving and protecting," Sparks said.

Issa is taking comment through Aug. 17 by e-mail at: beautymountain@mail.house.gov

For more information about the proposal, visit, www.issa.house.gov.

Call staff writer Dave Downey at 760-745-6611, ext. 2623.