Time is ticking away. Get off your ass and do something to stop this train before it is too late!

Crowdog
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May 3, 2002 - Boxer bill would set aside 3,800 sq. miles

By EDMOND JACOBY Staff writer


A wilderness bill proposed by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, would set aside California lands larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

Advanced copies of the California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act of 2002 began circulating last week under the title "discussion draft."

The draft, more than 10,000 words in length, lists 75 specific sites where land would be acquired and designated wilderness areas. Two of those sites are in El Dorado County, where the bill would create a 23,040-acre Caples Creek Wilderness Area and a 19,780-acre Meiss Meadows Wilderness Area. Together those would be the equivalent of almost 19 percent of the surface area of Lake Tahoe.

Those two locations were previously the focus of meetings held to determine local sentiment and inform local government officials and politicians. At those meetings Boxer's deputy state director, Thomas Bohigian, assured everyone present that no bill had been drafted and that local concerns about access to forest lands would be respected when a bill was written.

Altogether, the bill would set aside as wilderness, closed to many common uses and to all intrusion by mechanized transportation devices, nearly 3,800 square miles of forest and desert lands. By comparison, El Dorado County is 1,805 square miles. The total is about 2.4 percent of the entire state of California.

Among the problems identified at those earlier meetings and which the bill does not appear to address is that of forest fire prevention and suppression. Wilderness areas normally may not be cleared of fire fuels, fallen trees and brush in particular but also including dense timber growth. The consequence is that, over time, the likelihood of a severe forest fire rises, and without trails or mechanized access firefighters are at a disadvantage extinguishing such fires, according to forestry sources.

At a meeting April 12 between community leaders, user groups and Bohigian at Strawberry Lodge on Highway 50, George Osborne, president of the Board of Directors of El Dorado Irrigation District and a former forest firefighter, made exactly that point when asking for the senator's intentions for the Caples Creek area. EID is concerned that fire in an area traversed by flumes feeding its water system, particularly the Project 184 water sources, including Caples Creek, could be catastrophic.

Although Boxer's staff has never circulated a map showing exactly where wilderness boundaries will fall, the draft of the proposed wilderness act includes a remarkably detailed list - a list that refers to maps for exact locations of the parcels.

"Under the guise of protecting our heritage, the senator is accomplishing something quite different," said Richard Akin, a member of EID's board of directors.

"The national forests are supposed to benefit all of the citizens," he said.

"Timber harvests helped to finance a major part of our roads and our schools in El Dorado County in the past. Now, that's dwindled to almost nothing," he said.

"The national forests were something we could all use once, and the people who created and ran them made a big deal out of their multiple uses. Wilderness designation means all we can do is look at them," he said.

Of interest in this part of California would be the areas set aside in the El Dorado and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests totaling 42,800 acres, 73,630 acres in the Tahoe National Forest, which the bill refers to as the North Fork American Wilderness Area, the Black Oak Wilderness Area, the Duncan Canyon Wilderness Area, the Granite Chief Wilderness Area, the Castle Peak Wilderness Area and the Grouse Lakes Wilderness Area.

Additionally, 62,234 acres in the Bureau of Land Management's Ukiah District are to become the Cache Creek Wilderness Area.

The bill also would set aside 74,677 acres in the Shasta Trinity National Forest as salmon restoration areas.

Some 522 miles of California rivers would be designated Wild and Scenic Rivers by the same bill, including portions of the Mokelumne River, the North Fork of the Stanislaus River, and the South Fork of the Tuolumne River. A Sacramento River National Conservation Area also would be created by the bill, consisting of 30,000 acres along the lower Sacramento River, lower Battle Creek and lower Payne's Creek in Tehama County.

A provision in the bill also would create the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, an area of 29,000 acres identified only as being "public lands generally depicted on a map entitled 'Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest - proposed' dated April 2001."

The bill creates several categories of recurring spending authorization totaling $17 million annually, plus "such sums as may be necessary to carry out" specified portions of the legislation.

Bohigian was traveling and unavailable for comment.

Boxer's Los Angeles-based press spokesman, Jeff Logan, said he was unaware that copies of the legislation had been circulated, and said he had not seen one himself. He was provided a copy, but subsequently did not return calls.

Boxer ushers in wilderness legislation
By David Whitney -- Bee Washington Bureau
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Saturday, May 11, 2002
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barbara Boxer said Friday that she will soon introduce legislation designating an additional 2.5 million acres of federal land in California as wilderness, the first step in a long and controversial process of wilderness additions that she said probably will be done piecemeal over several years.

Boxer, D-Calif., released a long list of environmental organizations and community leaders from throughout the state backing her legislation.

But the bill also drew immediate Republican opposition, and outdoor recreation groups expressed concern.

The largest wilderness additions would be in southeastern and Southern California. Boxer is proposing about 425,000 acres of new wilderness in the Inyo National Forest, including a new 282,880-acre White Mountain Wilderness Area.

In Central and Northern California, the legislation would add a 51,790-acre Yuki Wilderness Area to the Mendocino National Forest, create a new 68,480-acre Mineral King Wilderness Area in the Sequoia National Forest, establish five new wilderness areas totaling about 70,000 acres in the Tahoe National Forest, and add 97,590 acres of potential timberlands to the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area east of Willow Creek.

Nearly 550,000 acres of the new wilderness would be on lands managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, mostly in Southern California.

Among the new Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas in Northern California would be the 41,100-acre Kings Range area of the agency's Ukiah district, described by Jay Watson of the Wilderness Society as "truly one of the wildest beaches in the entire state."

"We strongly support this legislation," Watson said. "California has a long and rich tradition of wilderness legislation, and this continues that tradition."

Keith Hammond, communications director for the California Wilderness Coalition, said some of the areas that the legislation would permanently protect are under threat of logging. He cited the areas near Willow Creek where logging has been held up by an injunction issued in a lawsuit filed by environmentalists.

Boxer will unveil her legislation at a wilderness rally today at the Presidio in San Francisco.

"California has always been about its intrinsic beauty," she said in a telephone press conference with reporters Friday. "We want to make sure when we have 50 million people, which is our projected population in 2025, that we have places that are wilderness for those people to visit."

About 14 million acres in California, roughly 14 percent of its total land base, is designated wilderness, off-limits to logging, mining and other forms of commercial development. Such designations also usually exclude use of motorized vehicles.

Don Amador, a political organizer with an off-road-vehicle group called the Blue Ribbon Coalition, said vehicle access to hundreds of miles of forest trails and roads would be cut off by Boxer's legislation, including a popular road in the Downeyville Ranger District of the Tahoe National Forest.

"If they go ahead with that, they will have a real fight on their hands," Amador said. Besides, he said, "most of us who went through the wilderness debates of the 1980s feel that enough acres have already been set aside."

Some Lake Tahoe mountain bikers also are concerned about the bill.

Boxer's draft legislation would cut off access to about 200 miles of bike trails near the Big Meadows area of South Lake Tahoe, said Dave VonDerau, a mountain biker from the area.

Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, declared his opposition, saying wilderness designations "simply do not strike the proper balance for either environment or people."

"Furthermore, this bill would jeopardize already fragile rural economies, cut off renewable sources of forest products, eliminate vital cattle grazing opportunities, hinder water development and endanger both human and animal life with the increased likelihood of catastrophic wildfire," he said.

This is Boxer's first crack at wilderness legislation since her election to the Senate in 1992. Wilderness bills in 1984 and 1994 added almost 11 million acres of protected lands, but only after long and difficult battles.

Boxer acknowledged that she is in for a fight. She said that her proposal most likely will be broken into bits and pieces, with each running the legislative gauntlet separately.

Her bill is not endorsed by her colleague, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the author of the 1994 wilderness bill and a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that has primary jurisdiction over wilderness bills. Boxer is not on that panel.

Boxer's bill is being carved into regional pieces for introduction in the House.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, will introduce the part covering wilderness areas north of Yosemite National Park next week, along with a smaller bill covering additions just in his district.

Thompson stressed that all of the lands covered by the legislation are owned by the Forest Service, the BLM or the National Park Service. In some areas of his district, new wilderness protections will mean better salmon production and better economic prospects from tourism.

"We went all out to make sure access will not be truncated and that hunting can continue," Thompson said in a telephone interview. "I can't imagine any of these wilderness designations will be legislatively easy. But you've got to try."


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Wilderness Proposal

In Northern and Central California, the legislation would:

*Add a 51,790-acre Yuki Wilderness Area to the Mendocino National Forest

*Create a new 68,480-acre Mineral King Wilderness Area in the Sequoia National Forest

*Establish five new wilderness areas totaling about 70,000 acres in the Tahoe National Forest

*Add 97,590 of potential timberlands to the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area east of Willow Creek.

Among the new Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas in Northern California:

*The 41,100-acre Kings Range area of the agency's Ukiah district

In addition, Boxer is proposing about 425,000 acres of new wilderness in the Inyo National Forest, including a new 282,880-acre White Mountain Wilderness Area.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/...p-3253539c.html
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Boxer wants far more wilderness
She introduces bill to add 2.5 million acres in California
Glen Martin, Chronicle Environment Writer
Saturday, May 11, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle


In the most ambitious attempt to expand California's protected lands in eight years, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has introduced legislation that would designate 2.5 million acres of the state's forests, deserts and river canyons as federal wilderness.

The bill is supported by companion legislation sponsored by Reps. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Hilda Solis, D-El Monte.

But rapid passage of the legislation appears unlikely, given that Republicans dominate the House of Representatives -- and they generally oppose additional wilderness designations.

Under Boxer's bill, 77 areas from Mexico to Oregon would receive wilderness designation, while portions of 22 rivers would be protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Two additional rivers -- Cache Creek and the East Fork of the Carson River - - would be studied for possible wild or scenic status.

Boxer's bill would dramatically increase the amount of California land permanently protected from development and motor vehicles. Under most circumstances, residential and resort development, oil drilling, logging, grazing, mining and off-road vehicles are prohibited in federal wilderness areas.

Passage would mark the most significant increase in state wilderness lands since the California Desert Protection Act was adopted in 1994. The desert act preserved about 7 million acres of land in Southern California.

The bill would quash many of the conservation battles now brewing in the state in the favor of environmentalists, including a U.S. Forest Service proposal to drill for oil in the Los Padres National Forest in Central California.

"It doesn't take much to destroy the natural beauty and wonder of these places," Boxer said. "These lands are our responsibility -- we must make sure future generations can see them as they were when people first ventured on them."

Environmentalists responded enthusiastically.

"This is an exciting day for California," said Jay Watson, the California director of the Wilderness Society.

"California has a long and rich tradition of wilderness preservation," said Watson. "Wilderness and free-flowing rivers help define the quality of life here. Congress has passed more wilderness legislation affecting California than any other state, and this bill will continue in that tradition."

The reaction generally was negative from groups favoring multiple uses of federal wildlands, including logging, mining and off-road vehicle touring.

"California already has a sufficient amount of land designated as wilderness," said Chris Nance, a spokesman for the California Forestry Association.

"Moreover, we don't believe additional wilderness will be acceptable to the people living and working in the areas where the designations will occur -- mainly because it prevents people from accessing those areas," he said.

Boxer said the bill would not stop economic development in and around the state's wildlands.

"Tourism is California's No. 1 industry," she said during a media briefing. "People will be so excited to see land that looks pretty much the way it looked when it was created."

Positions on the bill in the Senate and House of Representatives are firmly divided along party lines.

"None of my Republican colleagues in Congress has endorsed the (House) bills, but that doesn't mean they won't work with us," said Boxer. "(Passage) will probably be bit by bit, year by year. It took 14 years for the desert protection act to pass."

Thompson, the companion bill co-sponsor, said the legislation probably won't make it through the House this year, "though it could squeeze through as part of a negotiation at the end of the session.

"The main thing is, we're going to keep working on it. My district has most of the salmon habitat in the state, and salmon are extremely important to my constituents. To a large degree, the quality of the wilderness surrounding the salmon streams reflects the size of the salmon run."

Republican congressional representatives labeled the bill "dead on arrival."

"Any wilderness bill on the House side has to go through the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands," said Brian Kennedy, press secretary for Rep. George Radanovich, R-Fresno.

"My boss is the chairman of that subcommittee," said Kennedy, "and he will consider Sen. Boxer's wilderness bill when she introduces legislation to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Even then, I wouldn't give it a hundred-to-one shot of making it through the subcommittee. In other words, it doesn't have much of a shot. Congressman Radanovich is enthusiastically opposed -- he considers it an egregious imposition on multiple uses, industries and the taxpayers who pay for the maintenance of these lands."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...11/BA106854.DTL
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Are you going to go to the protest rally?
http://www.crowley-offroad.com/protest_rally.htm

Have you signed the petition to oppose this?
http://www.petitiononline.com/boxer/petition.html

Tuolumne County - Boxer Wilderness meeting
Tuolumne County - Boxer Wilderness meeting
YOUR ACTION NEEDED
Senator Barbara Boxer’s Proposed Wilderness Act

Please come and tell the Board of Supervisors and Tom Bohigian from Boxer’s staff what you think about additions to the Wilderness areas and designation of the Clavey and 10 tributaries as Wild and Scenic.

WHERE: Board of Supervisors Chamber
WHEN: Tuesday May 21, 2002
WHY: The advocates of this bill will be there is force. We need to let the Board and Boxer’s office know that the advocates do not represent all of Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties. Senator Boxer wants to know what the people of California think of this bill. Your appearance means that you want to be “stand up and be counted.” As Bruce Vincent has often observed, “The world is run by those who show up.”

Important Points:
2,424,156 Total CA acres from Oregon to the Mexican border

20 Rivers designated as Wild and Scenic

$24,000,000.00 per year for trails, tourism, law enforcement, and land purchase of inholders

Emigrant area addition 25,280 acres

Stanislaus/Humbolt Toiyabe 35,200 acres

When is enough, enough?

There are discrepancies between this legislation and the Wilderness bill of 1964. What happens when there is a discrepancy? The more strict legislation may apply.

There are promises being made that won’t be able to be kept because of the bill passed in 1964.

What about buffer zones? They are being applied to existing wilderness now.

We need to look beyond what is being proposed here in the Stanislaus. There are other serious implications across the state as well.

For multiple use, Wilderness is LOST land.

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If you cannot make this meeting, please fax letters of opposition to Boxer's Wilderness bill to the supervisors:

Fax: (209) 533-5510

Ratzlaff, Don (District 2)
Rotelli, Larry (District 1)
Syvester, Laurie (District 3)
Thornton, Mark (District 4)

You letter need not be long. Just a quick note to ask them to support multiple-use on public lands by opposing more wilderness areas.