A bill that would designate 273,000 acres of public land in Northern California as wilderness has been sent to President Bush after finally clearing both the U.S. House and Senate.

The legislation would add 29,000 acres to the existing 500,000-acre Trinity Alps Wilderness and 26,000 acres to the Yolla Bolly Middle-Eel Wilderness Area. Areas in the King Range National Conservation Area would also be deemed wilderness.

The Bush administration has supported the bill, with top U.S. Interior and Forest Service department officials testifying on its behalf. The president is expecting to sign the legislation within two weeks, creating the first newly designated wilderness in California in 10 years.

”Everybody got something out of this,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, the St. Helena Democrat who wrote the bill. “This is the most beautiful federally owned property in our area and to be able to elevate it to its due I think is just extremely important.”

The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act names new wilderness areas in Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, Del Norte and Napa counties. It also designates 51,000 acres as a national recreation area, where off-road vehicles and mountain bikes can be used.

That's a provision that the off-road vehicle access group the Blue Ribbon Coalition worked to have included.

”Even though it is not a perfect bill and we did not get Black Sands Beach (in the King Range) reopened for OHV use, the fact is that many important off-road and mountain bike routes in or near the wilderness areas are now codified by Congress for our use,” said the coalition's Don Amador.

The House Resources Subcommittee was the most significant hurdle for the bill, which has been rewritten several times to deal with concerns about wildfires and road closures. Thompson credited Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer with garnering support for the bill in the Senate.

One of the bill's key proponents was the late Tim McKay, the longtime executive director of the Northcoast Environmental Center. Susan Penn with the Arcata environmental group said she was glad to see the bill make it past so many obstacles.

”I think it's just another affirmation that most of us here share Tim's basic vision of the natural environment and what it should be,” Penn said.