PUBLIC LANDS: Feinstein bill would protect 1.4M acres of Calif. desert
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
E&E: Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) yesterday announced the reintroduction of a bill that would protect at least 1.4 million acres in Southern California while offering permanent access for off-highway vehicle (OHV) riders and promoting renewable energy development.
At 149 pages, the "California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act" is one of the largest lands bills in recent sessions of Congress, covering a terrain larger than dozens of measures that Congress passed last December as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
It would designate two new national monuments totaling 1.1 million acres and six new Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas totaling 250,000 acres, and add roughly 65,000 acres to Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks and the Mojave National Preserve.
Feinstein called it the "final chapter" in a decades-long effort that began in 1994 with President Clinton's signing of Feinstein's California Desert Protection Act, which established the three park units and protected more than 7.6 million acres of California desert wilderness.
"This new bill preserves more land, sets aside off-road recreational sites and allows for the development of renewable energy in a responsible way," Feinstein said in a statement. "We must ensure that critical parts of the California desert -- with its mountain vistas, bighorn sheep, mule deer, desert tortoises, Joshua trees, Native American petroglyphs and much more -- will be protected for all time."
The bill also protects OHV users, offering permanent access to five existing BLM OHV areas totaling 142,000 acres. The legislation has the support of the BlueRibbon Coalition, a national trade group representing OHV riders, and Cal 4-Wheel Drive, among other groups.
"It strikes a good balance between resource protection and providing sustainable OHV recreation," said Don Amador, Blue Ribbon's Western representative. "Both sides of the aisle tried to find a middle ground."
The bill would also encourage development of solar energy zones established by BLM while allowing upgrades to transmission lines to carry renewable energy to cities, according to a summary provided by Feinstein's office. It would also require the exchange of hundreds of thousands of acres of state parcels locked within federal parks and wilderness, allowing easier use or development.
The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), whose district includes part of Joshua Tree, has pledged to support the bill in the House.
It is unclear how the bill might fare in a Republican-controlled Senate. Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has shown herself to be willing to cut public lands deals that get conservation and recreation bills to the president's desk.
But her public lands agenda as chairwoman has not been fleshed out.
