Subject: [Landuse] kern county hearing on boxer bill this tues. Faxs needed


> The Kern County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing
> concerning the proposed resolution regarding Senator Boxer's California
> Wilderness Act (S2535) and companion bill, Southern California Wild
> heritage Act (R.R. 4947).
> The hearing will take place during the September 24, 2002 afternoon
>
> session of the Kern County Supervisor's meeting that will begin at 2:00
> P.M. in the supervisor's chambers on the first floor of the Kern County
> Administrative Center, 1115 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, California.
> There are two aspects of the wilderness bill directly related to
> Kern
> County. The first is the proposed designation of the lower Kern River
> as a
> Wild and Scenic River. This designation would implement restrictions
> against any new water diversions or developments such as dams for power
> generation. Another aspect of the bill that would directly affect Kern
> County is the proposed designation of the "Bright Star Wilderness Area"
> in
> the Paiute Mountains south of Weldon, California and the Chumash
> Wilderness
> in southwestern Kern County.
> Not directly affecting Kern County but certainly adversely
> impacting
> Kern County Residents would be the loss of access to recreation areas on
>
> the Sequoia National Forest in Tulare County and the Inyo National
> Forest
> in Inyo County. New proposed wilderness areas on the Sequoia National
> Forest include additions to the Golden Trout and Domeland Wilderness
> areas
> on the Kern Plateau. On the Inyo National Forest, proposed wilderness
> expansion includes the Coyote area west of the Owens Valley and almost
> all
> of the White Mountains to the east of the Owens Valley. The designation
>
> of
> these wilderness areas would seriously diminish the few remaining public
>
> lands accessible by motor vehicles since the passage of Senator
> Feinstein's
> so-called Desert Protection Act.
> Although it's critical that we have a good turnout at the hearing,
> if
> you cannot attend, it's very important that you fax a letter or send an
> e-mail message to the board of supervisors to express your concerns
> regarding this issue. The board of supervisor's fax number is
> 661-868-3636
> and their e-mail address is board@co.kern.ca.us. For Kern County
> Residents, the address of individual supervisors and their district maps
>
> can be found on the Kern County Board of Supervisors website located at
> http://www.co.kern.ca.us/bos
>
>
>
>
> This information is provided by Ron Schiller, Chairman, High Desert
> Multiple Use Coalition. As usual, please feel free to pass this
> information on to any other interested parties. Anyone wishing to
> receive
> future information regarding issues related to the management of public
> lands in the California Desert should send an e-mail to
> schiller@ridgecrest.ca.us and request to be placed on the distribution
> list. Please print "PLEASE ADD TO LIST" in the subject line.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his
> own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity
> of the individual and cannot really know freedom.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Landuse@lists.off-road.com
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>

From Ron Schiller, Chairman, High Desert Multiple Use Coalition:

Well, we did not do as well as we hoped at the Kern County
Supervisor's meeting. The vote for the resolution was 3 to1 but because
the Kern County Supervisors have a policy of only passing resolutions with
a unanimous vote, the motion did not carry. The sole vote against the
resolution opposing the Boxer wilderness bill was Supervisor Barbara
Patrick. Her district is located entirely within the Bakersfield city
limits. Supervisor Jon McQuiston did an excellent job of laying out the
major problems and concerns with the bill to the other supervisors and
offered every possible rationale for the other supervisors to support the
resolution. Supervisor McQuiston stated, "In my view, there has been no
credible public outreach, public meetings, or comprehensive analysis to
justify to a reasonable person why this land should be segregated as
wilderness." "It's not untrammeled, undeveloped, it's not primeval, and
its got a lot of structures, and the Forest Service has not made any
determinations," McQuiston concluded. "They have had five years [in
developing this legislation] which is ample time to make their case to
justify support for wilderness," he noted. The supervisors did, however,
unanimously approve a motion that authorizes the Chairman of the Kern
County Board of Supervisors to send a letter to Senator Boxer and other
elected officials outlining their concerns. Among the concerns to be
addressed in the letter is a request that the wilderness proposal be
referred to the Forest Service to study the area to determine wilderness
suitability including public involvement in the process and a strong
suggestion that adequate funding be appropriated for the study.

In beginning the hearing, Board Chairman Perez asked for a show of
hands from supporters and opponents and decided to take statements from
wilderness supporters first. In total, 15 people spoke in support of
additional wilderness designations in Kern County. Their basic arguments
were the usual generic emotional reasons for preservation with little
discussion of site-specific facts or issues. Among the speakers supporting
more wilderness were Joe Fontaine; local Sierra Club leader, Mark
Christopher; Friends of the River, and Tim Allyn; California Wild Heritage
Campaign. Tim's statement was quite different from his statement at the
July 30th supervisor's meeting. He did not mention having worked with any
of the OHV representatives and he significantly altered his statements that
were challenged during the fact-finding meeting with the Kern County
Planning Department personnel. He seemed to grope for answers to respond
to questions asked by the supervisor Jon McQuiston regarding the
justification for wilderness designations but never did quite make his case
with any substantive points. The chairman finally cut him off. Other
speakers for the bill included hikers, backpackers, canoeists, and a local
property owner.

On the other hand, there were 24 speakers in opposition to the
wilderness bill before discussion was cut off due to the lack of time.
Speakers included a past Kern County Supervisor, a rancher, firefighters, a
farm bureau representative, teachers, a chamber of commerce representative,
a hot springs enthusiast, mountain bicyclists, motorized and non-motorized
recreation organization representatives, an executive director of a nearby
boys camp, miners, and two disabled persons, one in a wheel chair and
another having to carry an oxygen bottle. All made excellent points. Dick
Taylor, who represented Kern Off Highway Vehicle Association, showed
several recent photographs of roads, cabins, and mining structure taken in
one of the proposed wilderness areas where the proponents insisted that no
roads exist. Several attendees and a reporter later noted they were
surprised by the diversity of the opponents of the wilderness bill.

Even though the original resolution was not carried, there were a
number of resulting benefits for our perspective. First, because the
supervisors directed the Planning Department personnel to meet with
proponents and opponents of the bill, the supervisors are much more aware
of the real issues and now know the facts. Second, opponents outnumbered
the bill's supporters by at least fifty percent thus demonstrating that a
likely majority of people in Kern County opposes the bill. Third, because
of the print and televised media coverage, the public is now very much more
aware of the proposal for more wilderness. This will foster more
opposition to the bill. Finally, several supervisors noted that some type
of alternate less restrictive land management designation should be
available. Obviously, the backcountry designation could provide a basis
for the needed alternative.

It was noted that the county received 84 letters regarding Boxer's
wilderness bill. There were 68 letters opposing the bill and only 16 in
support. This is significant because, historically, we have not usually
been able to outnumber the environmentalist's letters to such a degree.
Considering the number of letters coupled with the low turnout of
wilderness supporters, one could conclude that the environmental
organizations are losing their public support as their position on land
management issues become more and more discriminatory, exclusionary, and
extreme.


A related article is available online on the Bakersfield Californian
website. The URL is
http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/1837856p-1952685c.html


A summary of the proceedings and a list of speakers is located on the
Kern County website. See page 12.
http://www.co.kern.ca.us/clerk/minutes/9-24-02.pdf



This information is provided by Ron Schiller, Chairman, High Desert
Multiple Use Coalition. As usual, please feel free to pass this
information on to any other interested parties. Anyone wishing to receive
future information regarding issues related to the management of public
lands in the California Desert should send an e-mail to
schiller@ridgecrest.ca.us and request to be placed on the distribution
list. Please print "PLEASE ADD TO LIST" in the subject line.