Wilderness News

Over Memorial Day weekend I spent two days camping and hiking in the Browns Canyon area north of Salida. Sen. Ken Salazar recently introduced legislation to designate the 20,000-acre Browns Canyon Wilderness there ("Browns Canyon hopes second verse better than the first," Sports, May 28).

When it was disclosed that Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey would be on hand for the Wild Sky Wilderness dedication, "prince of darkness" and "Darth Vader" jokes were passed among conservationists.

Rey was the only guy in a suit beside the Skykomish River, but the former timber lobbyist behaved impeccably. He remembered a long-ago university lecture by a longtime nemesis, former Sierra Club boss Doug Scott, and gave an effusive tribute to the late Republican Rep. Jennifer Dunn.

It passed quickly and unanimously in the House. It breezed through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with vigorous support from both of Oregon's senators. It would cost so little that the Congressional Budget Office gave it a perfect revenue-neutral rating of zero.

A rushing river and jagged Cascade peaks were visible in the background. The sun had just come out.

After nine years of meetings, compromises and political battles won and lost, wilderness enthusiasts gathered in the small town of Index on Friday to celebrate the long-sought creation of the Wild Sky Wilderness.

"Oh my God, can you believe this?" U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said to the cheers of a crowd of more than 100 people gathered in the back yard of a home next to the North Fork Skykomish River.

With four condors flying directly over him as if on cue, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon unveiled sweeping legislation at the Bear Divide Picnic Area in the Angeles National Forest Thursday morning designed to protect nearly 42,000 acres of regional wilderness areas.

Legislation to protect almost half a million acres of federal public lands in California has been introduced in Congress on a bipartisan basis.

The Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act will give wilderness designations to 472,804 acres of public land, the highest level of protection and conservation for federal lands.

The bill designates 430,671 acres of wilderness in Mono and Inyo Counties and establishes more than 45 miles of the Owens River Headwaters and Amargosa River as Wild and Scenic Rivers.

The Mountaintown section of the Chattahoochee National Forest, located north of Ellijay, is one of Georgia's last remaining wild places. The area is popular for trout fishing, hiking, hunting and camping and contains several areas of old-growth tree stands. This area needs permanent protection from logging and other activities, like excessive off-road vehicle use.

"I am pleased that after years of working with local leaders, wilderness activists and recreational enthusiasts, we finally have a practical solution to preserving the wild heritage of the 25th Congressional District," said 25th District U.S. Congressman Buck McKeon.

Off-highway vehicle users can be their own worst enemies. If irresponsible OHV riders would mend their ways, stay out of sensitive areas and use some common sense instead of riding roughshod over public land, federal land-management agencies wouldn't have to get heavy-handed with restrictions.

But the reality is grim.

Congressman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., entered legislation in the House of Representatives Friday that would designate a stretch of the Amargosa River on the California side a wild and scenic river.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., introduced a companion bill in the Senate.

The designation would fulfill a dream for many years of some residents of southeastern Inyo County like Brian Brown, owner of the China Ranch Date Farm, and a founding member of the Amargosa Conservancy. It would protect flows on 23 miles of the river from Shoshone to Dumont Dunes.