Protection sought for Joshua Tree wilderness

Diana Marrero
Desert Sun Washington Bureau




Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun
Proposed legislation would expand the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument and designate nearly 40,000 acres in Joshua Tree National Park for conservation.

WASHINGTON - About 200,000 acres of public land in and around the Coachella Valley would be designated as wilderness areas under a bill the House is considering. Such a designation provides the highest level of protection under federal law.

"These areas are an impressive example of our continually changing landscape, as the San Andreas fault quite literally cuts through the region, creating unique peaks and views of the nearby Salton Sea," Rep. Mary Bono said during a hearing Tuesday in front of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Bono, R-Palm Springs, the main House sponsor, is working with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., on the legislation.

The legislation would expand the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument and designate nearly 40,000 acres in Joshua Tree National Park for conservation. Another 40,000 acres in the park would be designated as potential wilderness until the National Park Service settles property claims.

The lands provide habitat for threatened Peninsular bighorn sheep, the desert tortoise and bald eagles.

The bill also would designate 31 miles of four California rivers as wild and scenic: the North Fork of the San Jacinto River, Fuller Mill Creek, Palm Canyon Creek and Bautista Creek.

"These are places of respite from the fast pace of modern life," said Geary Hund, the associate director of the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy. The Idyllwild resident testified in front of the committee.

As the bill moves through the House, local advocates continue efforts to ward off development by buying remaining parcels of land within the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto monument that are still owned privately.

Bill opponents say the designation would restrict people from using bicycles and other, mechanized vehicles in those areas and could make it tougher for land managers to control fires near homes. Bono said she has excluded certain lands for protections to take those things into account.

The Partnership for America, a conservative nonprofit that works on natural resource policies, said in a letter to the panel that Bono's efforts do not address their concerns. The group is headed by former Rep. Richard Pombo, who drew ire from environmentalists when he was chairman of the Natural Resources Committee until he lost his seat last year. Members of off-road vehicle and motorcycle groups signed the letter.

The bill was one of five the committee considered Tuesday. Together, they would add a half-million acres in five states - Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon - to the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Hund said the monument and other wilderness areas in Riverside County need protection.

"Lands such as these are increasingly rare in our world and we must make every effort to preserve them," he said.