Bishop - Obama signs wilderness bill into law

With U.S. Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) and local residents Tim Alpers of Alpers Trout and Sally Miller of the Wilderness Society looking on, President Barack Obama signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 into law Monday afternoon.
With a stroke of his pen, President Obama created more than 700,000 acres of new wilderness in California and Nevada, the largest wilderness protection measure to be signed into law in 15 years.
The bill passed through the U.S. Senate on March 19 and received approval from the U.S. House of Representatives a week later on March 25 before heading to the White House.
Obama concluded years of dedicated work on the part of conservationists and legislators – both from and representing the Eastern Sierra as well as spread across the nation – in an East Room ceremony Monday with about 150 spectators in attendance.
“It’s a feeling of gratitude that seven years of hard work has paid off,” said McKeon Deputy Chief of Staff Bob Haueter.

Congressman Buck McKeon, who coauthored the bill along with Senator Barbara Boxer, poses at the White House with supporters Sally Miller of the California Wilderness Society and Tim Alters, owner of Alpers Trout in Mono County (l-r). Photo courtesy Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon’s Office

The Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act will give wilderness designation – the highest level of protection and conservation for federal lands – to 472,007 acres of federal public land in California.
Specifically, the bill designates an additional 432,968 acres of wilderness in Inyo and Mono counties and establishes nearly 67 miles of the Owens River Headwaters and Amargosa River as Wild and Scenic.
The land protected under the bill includes the White Mountains, America’s largest and highest desert mountain range and the second largest unprotected “roadless” area in the lower 48 states. The Whites are home to the world’s oldest living trees – the ancient Bristlecone Pines – which have lived almost 5,000 years.
As Obama prepared to sign the legislation yesterday, he said that Americans possess “few blessings” greater than the vast variety of lands, but they call on the country to preserve “our treasured landscape. That’s something we can all support.
“Treasured places from coast to coast will benefit from H.R. 146,” Obama said after signing the bill, “including Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan; Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia; Oregon’s Mount Hood; Idaho’s Owyhee Canyons; the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado; Zion National Park in Utah; remarkable landscapes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California; and wilderness-quality National Forest lands in Virginia and public lands in New Mexico.”
For many, the passage of the bill is a victory, but in Inyo County, there are several groups, including the county Board of Supervisors, who objected to the bill.
“Imagine our great-grandchildren exploring Beauty Mountain or the other wild places protected by this bill and seeing much the same landscape then as we do now,” said Barbara Hill, executive director of the California Wilderness Coalition. “Our members, and diligence of lawmakers such as Senator Barbara Boxer and Representatives Mary Bono Mack made this happen and we are extremely grateful to them.”
Boxer and McKeon, who coauthored the Wild Heritage Act, both offered Obama their gratitude after the bill was signed.
“I thank President Obama for signing this important bill, which reflects a lot of bipartisan work and compromise to protect wild and beautiful lands in California,” Boxer said. “ California is defined by its environment, and we have preserved some magnificent places for future generations.”
Representative McKeon said, “The Eastern Sierra Northern San Gabriel Mountain Wild Heritage Act designates 470,000 acres of majestic land as wilderness to protect for future generations. It is the product of countless hours of community involvement. Senator Boxer and I worked together and met with virtually every local stakeholder and leader to reach a compromise. This package works because it isn’t Congress telling Californians how to manage the land; it’s our community asking Congress to approve a land use compromise developed and vetted back home in California.”
“Today was a great day for the people of the United States of America,” Alpers said after the bill was signed. “Some of the most beautiful places on earth that we all treasure will be preserved as they are today for future generations from all over the world. To see support for this bill come together so fast for the President’s signature shows that this bill was the right action to take.”
Here in the Owens Valley, the Advocates for Access to Public Lands has said that it “regrets” the passage of the Wild Heritage Act, but appreciates that local legislators have vowed not to introduce any more wilderness legislation dealing with Inyo County.
Third District Supervisor and Inyo County Board of Supervisors Chair Beverly Brown is not so optimistic.
“I’m really disappointed, because this is just going to add another 400,000 acres to our wilderness.”
Brown said that with the U.S. Forest Service scheduled to conclude its Travel Management Plan, and a proposal on Senator Dianne Feinstein’s desk for additional wilderness in Southern Inyo (that she has not agreed to carry) could potentially harm recreation in the Sierra.
“The culmination of all that takes away more and more of the citizens’ rights to use the land,” Brown said. “But there were some good bills passed (in the omnibus). That’s how they get them passed, they include the good bills with the bad.”