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February 29, 2012
FORESTWATCH ISSUES STATEMENT ON
THE LOS PADRES CONSERVATION AND RECREATION ACT OF 2012
Federal
Legislation Introduced Today Would Protect Wilderness in Santa
Barbara & Ventura Counties While Opening New Areas to Off-Road
Vehicle Use & Brokering a Land Swap
Washington, D.C. –
Today, Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) introduced
legislation to extend the current boundaries of
federally-protected wilderness areas in the Los Padres National
Forest. The bill is generating local controversy because it
would also open new areas of the forest to motorized off-road
vehicles, and would kickstart a controversial exchange of land
between the U.S. Forest Service and a local water district near
Lake Piru.
The bill – dubbed the Los Padres Conservation and Recreation Act
of 2012 (H.R. 4109) – applies only to national forest land in
Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The main provisions of the
bill include:
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Extending the
current boundaries of the Sespe, Matilija, and Dick Smith
wilderness areas in the heart of the Los Padres National
Forest, increasing the size of these areas by 63,576 acres
(20%);
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Establishing
the 18,520-acre Condor Ridge Scenic Area along the crest of
the Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara County;
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Protecting 89
miles of backcountry rivers and streams under the federal
Wild and Scenic Rivers system, including Mono and Indian
Creeks in Santa Barbara County and the upper Sespe and upper
Piru creeks in Ventura County;
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Establishing
two officially-sanctioned “OHV Areas” in the Ventura
backcountry totaling 65,833 acres, where off-highway
vehicles such as dirtbikes, ATVs and four-wheel drive
vehicles would be encouraged;
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Opening 69
miles of remote forest roads that have been closed for
several decades due to law enforcement and public safety
concerns, wildfire risk, and protection of sensitive
resources, and authorizes the construction of three new OHV
routes in remote areas of the forest; and
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Requiring the
Forest Service to trade several hundred acres of public land
around Lake Piru in Ventura County to a local water
district.
Also today, Los
Padres ForestWatch – the only conservation organization focused
solely on protecting the Los Padres National Forest – issued a
formal statement supporting the wilderness and river
provisions in the bill, but expressing grave concerns about
several other provisions in the bill.
“While these wilderness provisions are a good step towards
permanently protecting some of the last remaining undeveloped
wild places in our local backcountry, we have serious concerns
about other unrelated provisions tacked onto this bill that
would significantly degrade the Los Padres National Forest and
outdoor recreation experiences for thousands of visitors to the
forest each year,” said Jeff Kuyper, executive director of
ForestWatch, based in Santa Barbara, California. “ForestWatch is
committed to working with members of Congress to make
improvements to this bill so that it better fulfills the vision
set forth in the 1964 Wilderness Act to ‘secure for the American
people of present and future generations the benefits of an
enduring resource of wilderness.’”
ForestWatch and a coalition of local, state, and national
conservation organizations – working collectively as the
Southern Los Padres Wild Heritage Project – have released their
own wilderness proposal for the Los Padres National Forest,
recommending more than 200,000 acres for formal wilderness or
scenic area designation. The conservation groups’ proposal also
includes adding more than 120 miles of rivers to the nation’s
Wild and Scenic River system. Details of that proposal, which
has garnered the support of more than 300 local businesses,
farmers and ranchers, landowners, schools, conservation groups,
and forest users, can be found at
www.lospadreswild.org
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