The Campaign for America’s Wilderness joins conservationists from around the country in expressing thanks to the Members of the House Committee on Natural Resources, who today approved three major bills that will forever protect some of our best wild lands for future generations. We are especially appreciative of the dedicated, hard-working local conservationists in California and New Mexico who helped develop and support these important wilderness initiatives.

The Committee voted to send on to the full House of Representatives: The California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act, sponsored by Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), which will protect 190,000 acres of wilderness in Riverside County, California, including additional areas of Joshua Tree National Park and the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, and adding 31 miles of four rivers to the National Wild and Scenic River System; the Sabinoso Wilderness Act, sponsored by Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM), which will protect more than 15 thousand acres in San Miguel County, east of Las Vegas, New Mexico, while providing public access to an area that contains an amazing diversity of forests, prehistoric cliffs, canyons and riparian bottomlands; and, the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness Act, sponsored by Jim Costa (D-CA) and Devin Nunes (R-CA), which will permanently protect 115,000 acres of wilderness in the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park, including one area to be named the John Krebs Wilderness after the former congressman and conservationist who fought to protect these lands in the Mineral King Valley.

The Committee’s approval of these three significant public lands bills continues the long tradition of bipartisan support for protecting wilderness, helping to ensure that these beautiful natural areas will remain as they are for generations to come.