S 493 CA Wild Heritage - Boxer Wilderness bill 

May 4, 2007 

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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Source:  http://users.sisqtel.net/armstrng/opinion050407.htm