Big conservation bill for California heads for vote
A giant California conservation bill that would preserve 1 million acres of land from the banks of the Los Angeles River to the forests near the Oregon border will go before Congress for a historic vote today.
Four representatives, each adding a piece of the preservation pie, said in a virtual press conference Thursday that their long-suffering efforts have been revived by a Democratic majority in the House and what could be a dramatic tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate by Vice President Kamala Harris — a former California senator — coupled with support pledged by President Joe Biden.
Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act, or House Resolution 803, could easily sail through the Democratic-controlled House today, a first step in approval of a package of forest preservation, wilderness and wild rivers protections, including the creation of a new recreation area for Southern California.
“This is 1 million acres of
public lands. It is a great way for California to continue to be a leader in these issues of conservation,” said Laura Navar, outreach manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.
In Southern California, two pieces of legislation included in the bill bundle would expand public lands in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.
The Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act, by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, would add 191,000 acres to the existing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, doubling the size of the existing array of hills, mountain, trails and parklands while protecting wild habitat, including isolated areas roamed by mountain lions, including L.A.’s famous puma, P-22, captured in an iconic image by Steve Winter in Griffith Park in front of the Hollywood Sign.
The L.A./San Fernando Valley addition includes: Griffith Park, the Simi Hills, El Pueblo de Los Angeles in downtown and portions of the L.A. River and its headway in the Tujunga area and upper Arroyo Seco near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Schiff has been working on the Rim of the Valley inclusion into the Santa Monica Mountains NRA for nearly 20 years. Last year the bill was approved in the House but died in the Senate.
“Now, in the (Joe) Biden administration, I am very much hoping to get it to the finish line,” he said Thursday.
The San Gabriel Mountains and Rivers Protection Act, authored by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, has a dual purpose.
First, it extends the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument designated by President Barack Obama in 2014, by adding 109,143 acres of the western, front-facing Angeles National Forest. This area includes popular hiking areas within Chantry Flat, located just north of Arcadia and Sierra Madre.
Chu said the addition to the 346,177-acre national monument, which encompasses only land within the Angeles National Forest, will bring more resources to these overcrowded hiking areas, made more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. In its first year, the monument received $3 million in additional federal funding, Chu reported.
Secondly, her legislation would create a 51,107-acre San Gabriel National Recreation Area, including forest and private lands along the foothills from Pasadena to Claremont. The rivers section would take in the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel Rivers south of the foothills, as well as the entire cities of El Monte and South El Monte.
Areas such as Eaton Canyon Park and the Claremont Wilderness Park would be included. The biggest change would be insertion of the National Parks Service in both funding and rangers, not unlike how the Santa Monica Mountains NRA operates.
The new recreation area would be in the National Park Service budget, creating funding for new trails, signs and expanded access, Chu said.
If established, the National Park Service would immediately hire a superintendent, part of a $250,000 budget expenditure, said Belinda Faustinos, executive director of Nature For All, a group advocating for better access and improved amenities in forest lands.
Faustinos, who once worked in the Santa Monica Mountains recreation area, said it started with six employees and has grown to more than 600. “I’m sure a lot of funding will come in once the bill passes,” she said.
In Central California, the portion presented by Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, would include 250,000 acres of forest land redesignated as wilderness, meaning motorized vehicles are prohibited, as are oil and gas drilling, he said. He wants to see a Condor Trail built connecting Los Angeles with Monterey in an area where the large bird is making a comeback.
The Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation and Working Forest Act would add wilderness designations, increase resiliency to wildfires and build up ecotourism from Mendocino County to Siskiyou County.
Ulmira Loza, a resident of East San Fernando in Los Angeles County and a graduate of Nature For All’s leadership program, said many of her neighbors, especially children, have never seen the mountains. She described her first visit as transformative.
“That visit to the San Gabriel Mountains changed my view of living,” she said during the press conference. “I was able to experience peace, freedom.”
The San Gabriel Mountains provides 70% of the open space for Los Angeles County, said Thomas Wong, board chair of Nature For All.