primergray
07-25-2006, 08:45 AM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060725/news_1n25bills.html
Bills make 670,000 acres of California, other states off-limits wilderness areas
By Matthew Daly
ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 25, 2006
WASHINGTON – The House approved a series of bills yesterday to protect national forest land in the West, including the designation of new wilderness areas in three Western states.
The bills would create about 670,000 acres of wilderness and protect 47 miles of wild and scenic rivers in California, Idaho and Oregon. About 1,046 square miles of new wilderness would be created.
The unanimous votes – which send the bills to the Senate – were unusual, particularly since they involved wilderness expansion, typically a contentious process. Wilderness designation forbids commercial exploitation and motorized recreation.
These bills have been in the works for years and represent compromise among business owners, ranchers, local governments, recreation advocates, conservationists and American Indian tribes.
The California bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, would designate more than 277,000 acres of northern California as wilderness and 79,000 acres as a recreation management area for off-road vehicles and mountain bikes.
Dubbed the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Act, the bill would protect some of the most breathtaking and remote areas in California, including portions of the Mendocino and Six Rivers National Forests and stretches of undeveloped beach and coastal bluffs in Humboldt and Mendocino counties. The Black Butte River in Mendocino County would be designated a wild and scenic river.
It would become the first federal wilderness area in California since passage of the Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002.
The Oregon bill would create more than 77,200 acres of new wilderness preserves in the Mount Hood National Forest. The Mount Hood Stewardship Legacy Act would be the first new wilderness – the most restrictive of federal land designations – in the 1.1 million-acre forest since 1984.
The Idaho bill would designate three wilderness areas comprising 315,215 acres in the rugged peaks of the Sawtooth and Challis national forests.
Bills make 670,000 acres of California, other states off-limits wilderness areas
By Matthew Daly
ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 25, 2006
WASHINGTON – The House approved a series of bills yesterday to protect national forest land in the West, including the designation of new wilderness areas in three Western states.
The bills would create about 670,000 acres of wilderness and protect 47 miles of wild and scenic rivers in California, Idaho and Oregon. About 1,046 square miles of new wilderness would be created.
The unanimous votes – which send the bills to the Senate – were unusual, particularly since they involved wilderness expansion, typically a contentious process. Wilderness designation forbids commercial exploitation and motorized recreation.
These bills have been in the works for years and represent compromise among business owners, ranchers, local governments, recreation advocates, conservationists and American Indian tribes.
The California bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, would designate more than 277,000 acres of northern California as wilderness and 79,000 acres as a recreation management area for off-road vehicles and mountain bikes.
Dubbed the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Act, the bill would protect some of the most breathtaking and remote areas in California, including portions of the Mendocino and Six Rivers National Forests and stretches of undeveloped beach and coastal bluffs in Humboldt and Mendocino counties. The Black Butte River in Mendocino County would be designated a wild and scenic river.
It would become the first federal wilderness area in California since passage of the Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002.
The Oregon bill would create more than 77,200 acres of new wilderness preserves in the Mount Hood National Forest. The Mount Hood Stewardship Legacy Act would be the first new wilderness – the most restrictive of federal land designations – in the 1.1 million-acre forest since 1984.
The Idaho bill would designate three wilderness areas comprising 315,215 acres in the rugged peaks of the Sawtooth and Challis national forests.