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This past May, just in time to kick off California’s prime outdoor recreation season, Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon (25th District of California, Santa Clarita/Los Angeles County) announced a long-awaited wilderness bill in front of an enthusiastic audience in Bishop, Calif. Titled “The Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Mountains Wild Heritage Act” (H.R. 6156 and S. 3069), the wilderness legislation calls for 470,000 acres of wilderness additions from the Eastern Sierra to the mountainous flanks of Los Angeles, as well as the designation of over 50 miles of the Amargosa River, Cottonwood Creek, Owens Headwaters, and Piru Creeks as wild and scenic rivers. Senator Barbara Boxer worked with Buck McKeon to develop the bill and was an original sponsor of the measure in the Senate, where a companion bill was introduced. Recently, Senator Dianne Feinstein co-sponsored the Senate version of the bill.
Of particular interest to Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) community, the legislation calls for additions to the Hoover Wilderness, “east” and “west”, with the western addition containing important segments (approximately 12 miles) of the PCT between Sonora Pass (at Highway 108, west of Bridgeport, Calif.) south to where the trail enters Yosemite National Park at Dorothy Lake Pass. This area of the High Sierra, one-third the size of San Francisco, is known for its 11,000-foot peaks, deeply carved glacial valleys dotted with tranquil alpine lakes, lush meadows, and forests of lodgepole pine. Features along the PCT that would be included in the Hoover Wilderness Addition include Kennedy Canyon, 11,755-foot Tower Peak, the headwaters of the West Walker River, Walker Meadows, Harriet Lake, and Stella Lake.
While the PCT is granted some protection through the National Trails System Act that established the trail, a wilderness designation will assure that the lands around the PCT in this area are permanently protected for the benefit of future generations.
A small portion of the PCT directly at Sonora Pass and the trail’s crossing of Highway 108 would remain unprotected by the legislation. And, as a compromise necessary to move the bill forward and protect the 12 miles of the PCT mentioned above, the PCT will likely be crossed once by a snowmobile track that will be part of the bill’s new Bridgeport Winter Recreation Area, a 7,680-acre snowmobile recreation area in Leavitt Bowl, adjacent to the Hoover West Wilderness Additions. Such a single crossing is in keeping with the language of the National Trail System Act and concerned organizations, including the PCTA, will work with the Forest Service and others to assure the integrity of the PCT in the area. The bill requires land management agencies to prepare a winter use plan that addresses, among other things, enforcement of regulations, including the non-motorized status of the PCT. It should be noted, also, that the location of the snowmobile track crossing at Sonora Pass will be where the PCT is adjacent to the paved public road and already compromised by nearby motorized use.
Also part of the legislation is a wilderness addition at Pleasant View Ridge. This spectacular area is located south of the desert communities of Palmdale/Lancaster on the north slope of the San Gabriel Mountains. Features include 8,200-foot Mt. Williamson and other dramatic peaks, the headwaters of Little Rock Creek, and some of the most magnificent and remote ridge and canyon country in southern California. A XX-mile portion of the PCT accesses the area, which is home to bighorn sheep and the mountain yellow-legged frog, old-growth pines, and Joshua trees.
Please show your support for “The Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Mountains Wild Heritage Act” (H.R. 6156 and S. 3069) and its protection of the PCT in with the Hoover Wilderness and Pleasant View Ridge Additions.
Write to Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon, Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Dianne Feinstein using the e-mail forms provided on their Web sites (see URLs below) and thank them for introducing this important and much-anticipated legislation. Please also acknowledge the special significance of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail and the PCT community’s commitment to preserving the integrity of the trail as it was originally designated by the National Trail System Act.
Rep. Buck McKeon: http://mckeon.house.gov/
Senator Barbara Boxer: http://boxer.house.gov/
Senator Dianne Feinstein: http://feinstein.senate.gov’
For a map of the Hoover West addition that includes 12 miles of the PCT, visit: http://mckeon.house.gov/pdf/HooverWest_42x50_080716.pdf
A map of the Pleasant View Ridge addition, which also includes a portion of the PCT, is available at: http://mckeon.house.gov/pdf/plsntView_708.pdf
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