In the News
Press Enterprise
By Richard W. Halsey
October 14, 2007
Support a visionary bill to save Inland wilderness
Cahuilla Mountain and the south fork of the San Jacinto River canyon near Lake Hemet in the San Bernardino National Forest are two of the most beautiful places on earth.
Within these Riverside County wildlands exist some unique natural treasures. Groves of ancient black oak and Coulter pine decorate the top of Cahuilla Mountain, and islands of big-cone Douglas fir shade the sides of the San Jacinto River Canyon.
Throughout both areas, magnificent stands of old-growth chaparral, once the domain of the California grizzly bear, protect the region's valuable watersheds. The beauty and solitude that can be found in these two landscapes attract thousands of visitors each year.
The California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs, and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., will ensure that these special places remain unspoiled for generations to come by designating both as federal wilderness areas.
Without wilderness designation, these treasures would remain vulnerable to road construction, power-line installation and other damaging projects. The bill not only safeguards Riverside County's scenic natural treasures, but accommodates community safety concerns regarding wildland fire.
Bono and Boxer have spent months consulting with the U.S. Forest Service, other land managers, community leaders and citizen groups, and have included more than two dozen boundary modifications in their bill to address fire risk and private-property rights. They added explicit language ensuring that land managers can continue to use whatever they need to fight fires in wilderness, including helicopters and bulldozers, and reduce vegetation that could fuel a fire near buildings.
The bill also carves out fuel breaks near Cottonwood Canyon and along Rouse Ridge, creating broad boundary setbacks to ensure fire-prevention treatment along the road; moves the proposed boundary far from the shoulder of other roads, such as Bautista Canyon Road and Highway 74, to allow for aggressive roadside fuel-reduction projects, such as the one recently completed below Mountain Center; and removes close to a square mile of proposed wilderness around the California Department of Forestry facility at Bautista Creek.
The Forest Service has already performed a number of prescribed burns in the south fork area, and Bono and Boxer made sure their bill would allow the agency to continue similar fire-prevention projects.
This thorough and inclusive approach is why so many local communities back the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act, including the Coachella City Council, the Idyllwild Chamber of Commerce, the cities of La Quinta, Twentynine Palms and Banning, Joshua Tree Municipal Advisory Committee and the town of Yucca Valley. It has also been endorsed by more than 50 local businesses, local tribes and Riverside County supervisors. This bill is truly a visionary effort worthy of our support.
Richard W. Halsey is director of the California Chaparral Institute in Escondido.