Crowdog
03-18-2002, 02:58 AM
Plan would protect vast areas in Kern
By KERRY CAVANAUGH, Californian staff writer
e-mail: kcavanaugh@bakersfield.com
Thursday March 14, 2002, 11:12:01 PM
California Sen. Barbara Boxer is looking to ban vehicles, road building and radio towers in three swaths of Sequoia National Forest land.
The Democrat will likely include 120,000 acres of Kern and Tulare public lands in legislation she'll introduce to designate the forest land as wilderness, her deputy state director Tom Bohigian said Thursday.
Boxer could introduce the bill in as soon as 30 days, he said.
The senator is also considering a "wild-and-scenic" designation for the lower Kern River, below Isabella Lake, which would prevent new dams or river diversions from being built.
Under a federal law passed in 1968, Rivers that are designated "wild and scenic" have unique fish and wildlife, geologic, scenic or historical features. Public uses of wild and scenic river areas are not as restricted as they are in places that are designated wilderness areas.
Boxer's staff is now meeting with valley political leaders to float the proposals. The wilderness bill could include as much as 2.7 million acres statewide, Bohigian said.
Joe Fontaine, a member of a local Sierra Club chapter, said his group's highest priority areas in the Piute Mountains and the Kern Plateau appear to be on Boxer's list.
Fontaine said he and fellow environmentalists have been pushing for the wilderness designations to guard against encroaching development, new roads and dams.
A wilderness area is supposed to be an untouched, primitive piece of forest that does not allow permanent roads, motor vehicles and motorized equipment, according to the 1964 Wilderness Act.
If successful, the wilderness bill will "keep things the way they are now so they can be enjoyed in the future," Fontaine said.
Except the bill would remove snowmobiles and motorcycles from areas now open to their motorized equipment.
Jack Patterson with the Kern Off-Highway Vehicle Association said there are several popular trails in the proposed wilderness areas, yet off-highway vehicle riders have had little input on the wilderness evaluations.
"This amount of wilderness is not necessary to protect anything but is the next step in making everything wilderness," he said.
The wilderness bill will not please everyone, Bohigian said. But the senator's staff has made concessions.
The proposal on the table now is half of the 4.5 million acres originally proposed by environmentalists.
It includes provisions maintaining cattle grazing, horse packing and allows mechanical equipment to fight wildfires.
Bohigian has also been meeting with local leaders, including the staffs of U.S. Reps. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford; and Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield; and Kern County Supervisor Jon McQuiston, whose district includes a proposed wilderness area in the Piute Mountains.
The supervisor generally opposes more wilderness designations, saying, "Philosophically, what's the need?"
But he is reluctant to push any county resolutions or stances until he sees what's in the bill.
http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/783129p-843503c.html
By KERRY CAVANAUGH, Californian staff writer
e-mail: kcavanaugh@bakersfield.com
Thursday March 14, 2002, 11:12:01 PM
California Sen. Barbara Boxer is looking to ban vehicles, road building and radio towers in three swaths of Sequoia National Forest land.
The Democrat will likely include 120,000 acres of Kern and Tulare public lands in legislation she'll introduce to designate the forest land as wilderness, her deputy state director Tom Bohigian said Thursday.
Boxer could introduce the bill in as soon as 30 days, he said.
The senator is also considering a "wild-and-scenic" designation for the lower Kern River, below Isabella Lake, which would prevent new dams or river diversions from being built.
Under a federal law passed in 1968, Rivers that are designated "wild and scenic" have unique fish and wildlife, geologic, scenic or historical features. Public uses of wild and scenic river areas are not as restricted as they are in places that are designated wilderness areas.
Boxer's staff is now meeting with valley political leaders to float the proposals. The wilderness bill could include as much as 2.7 million acres statewide, Bohigian said.
Joe Fontaine, a member of a local Sierra Club chapter, said his group's highest priority areas in the Piute Mountains and the Kern Plateau appear to be on Boxer's list.
Fontaine said he and fellow environmentalists have been pushing for the wilderness designations to guard against encroaching development, new roads and dams.
A wilderness area is supposed to be an untouched, primitive piece of forest that does not allow permanent roads, motor vehicles and motorized equipment, according to the 1964 Wilderness Act.
If successful, the wilderness bill will "keep things the way they are now so they can be enjoyed in the future," Fontaine said.
Except the bill would remove snowmobiles and motorcycles from areas now open to their motorized equipment.
Jack Patterson with the Kern Off-Highway Vehicle Association said there are several popular trails in the proposed wilderness areas, yet off-highway vehicle riders have had little input on the wilderness evaluations.
"This amount of wilderness is not necessary to protect anything but is the next step in making everything wilderness," he said.
The wilderness bill will not please everyone, Bohigian said. But the senator's staff has made concessions.
The proposal on the table now is half of the 4.5 million acres originally proposed by environmentalists.
It includes provisions maintaining cattle grazing, horse packing and allows mechanical equipment to fight wildfires.
Bohigian has also been meeting with local leaders, including the staffs of U.S. Reps. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford; and Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield; and Kern County Supervisor Jon McQuiston, whose district includes a proposed wilderness area in the Piute Mountains.
The supervisor generally opposes more wilderness designations, saying, "Philosophically, what's the need?"
But he is reluctant to push any county resolutions or stances until he sees what's in the bill.
http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/783129p-843503c.html