Senator Barbara Boxer recently
re-introduced S. 493 - the California Wild Heritage Act of 2007. It has been referred to
the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. A companion bill H.R. 860 has been
introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Hilda Solis. The bill would take “regular”
Klamath National Forest and Rogue River -Siskiyou National Forest land and designate it as
additional Wilderness land. Siskiyou County is only one of the areas in California that
this bill would impact.
S. 493 proposes: 64,160
acres of additional Marble Mountain Wilderness; 19,360 acres of additional Russian
Wilderness; and 51,600 acres of additional Red Butte Wilderness in Siskiyou County. The proposed Marble Mountain addition would extend
Wilderness right up to private lands in some areas of Quartz Valley, Greenview, Etna and
French Creek, (targets Mill Creek, Snoozer Ridge, Whisky Butte, Etna Mountain.) The
proposed Russian Wilderness additions would include lands near Wildcat Peak, Grizzly Peak, Hogan Creek and on either
side of the South Fork of the Salmon River. The proposed Red Butte
Kangaroo Wilderness Unit extends from Pyramid Peak at the Oregon border down to private
lands along the Klamath River west of Fort Goff and eastward along the
Klamath through Seiad Valley. It also includes the Cook and Green Creek area and
White and Condrey Mountain areas. Maps can be found
at http://www.calwild.org/campaigns/cwhc_act/cwhc_list.php
Currently, the Marble
Mountain Wilderness is 223,500 acres; the Russian Wilderness - 12,700; the Siskiyou - 70,100; the Trinity Alps - 74,900;
Red Butte 20,235, and the Mt. Shasta Wilderness – 38,200 acres. That is about
439,635 acres of current Wilderness in Siskiyou County and, because there are so
many National Forests in the County that span other counties, I am sure that is not all of
it. The bill proposes to lock up another 135,120 acres. On the Klamath National Forest, this would mean that
approximately 31% of its land would be in Wilderness designation.
The following activities
are prohibited in a Wilderness: road building; use of motorized equipment; use of
mechanical vehicles; timber harvest; new mining claims; new grazing allotments; building of facilities, dams or water structures.
Search and rescue and firefighting activities are allowed.
The greatest concern with
this bill is that fuel reduction management activities – tree thinning, brushing and
crushing, would not be allowed in new Wilderness. The bill would bring unmanaged lands
right up against private lands, eliminating any manageable buffer in the Wildland Urban
Interface. It would also remove these lands from productive commercial use that could
benefit severely depressed local economies.
It is amazing to me that
the federal government could list the following communities in the Federal Register Search
as ‘Urban
Wildland Interface Communities Within the Vicinity of Federal Lands That Are at High Risk
From Wildfire” and then consider
legislation to make a dangerous situation worse: Callahan, Etna, Fort Jones,
Gazelle, Horse Creek, Klamath River, Quartz Valley, Sawyers Bar, Scott Bar and Seiad
Valley
S.493 proposes to offset
the pain by authorizing $5 million a year to create Wilderness Area and Wild and Scenic
Rivers related jobs, visitor centers and kiosks. Undoubtedly, this money will go to more
populated areas like Southern California. I have not heard that
the tourism that comes from our Wilderness Areas has ever contributed a significant amount
to the local economy. Perhaps a kiosk in Greenview would change that.
Another $5 million a year
will go to firefighting in the Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Areas. That is good, but a
bit shy of the mark. Last year in Siskiyou County alone, the Hancock, Uncles
Complex and Rush fires (mostly Wilderness) burned 28,000 acres in Siskiyou County,
threatening local communities and costing the federal government more than $12 million to
try and contain them from moving into populated areas.
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