Sierra Wave: Local News for Mammoth Lakes, Bishop, and the Eastern Sierra - Changes to Wilderness Bill Include White Mountain Acreage

Changes to Wilderness Bill Include White Mountain Acreage

Written by Tom Woods

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

The Boxer-McKeon Wilderness Bill is slowly changing as it is ground through the gears of Washington DC.

The bill had proposed 430,000 acres of new designated wilderness in the Eastern Sierra. That number is now up to 438,000.

As proposed wilderness areas near Mammoth were subtracted from the list, new wilderness areas are now proposed to be added.

According to Congressman Buck McKeon’s staff, the proposed McGee Mountain Wilderness near Crowley Lake has been removed from the bill. The Laurel Lakes addition, near Mammoth is no longer on the list either.

Bob Huaeter with McKeon’s office has explained that Senator Barbara Boxer’s office won’t budge on the total acreage of Wilderness in this bill, so other areas are slated to be added as parts are cut out.

4000 acres on Table Mountain, between Aspendell and South Lake is now proposed Wilderness. Other new additions include close to 4000 acres on Mt. Conness near Tioga Pass and 500 acres near Tioga Lake.

The White Mountains, were much of the controversy in this bill lies, will receive an additional 6000 acres on top of the 223,000 acres already in the bill. McKeon’s staff reports that the recently added 6000 acres are in Mono County and include an already protected area of Bristlecone Pine Forest.

Other changes to the bill remain as previously reported. 22 miles of Cottonwood Creek in the Whites are slated for Wild and Scenic River designation and Wilderness boundary will fall 75 feet from the center line of roads cherry stemmed into the Wilderness. Every currently legal road will stay legal, staff reports.

Maps of the recent changes to the Wilderness Bill are now available on Congressman McKeon’s website.

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Roger Mitchell said:

How much "Wilderness" is enough? The elitest environmental pressure groups which you have chosen to get into bed with, will say they will never be satisfied. I say: Enough is enough"!
Roger Mitchell

July 31, 2008

Phil Hartz said:

I am very suspicious of these types of land grabs. Now it is even more suspicious with all of this trading, without any consultations with the parties that reside around these areas. I don't trust this Senator Boxer, and my faith in Congressman McKeon is further eroded.

August 01, 2008

Bruce Cotton said:

We fight to have freedom in this country and now the government is starting to tell use we cant go in the mountains aless we walk in whats next? are they going to start telling us when and where we can go or coming into our homes and telling us when we can make love to our wife or husband,like they did in Russa and still do in China. When is it goin to stop? I didn,t fight for freedom to have it taken away from me. Its bad enough I have to use an ATV/UTV to get into the country I want to go into now they are goin to tell me i can't go.

August 01, 2008

Alice Horton said:

Right on Bruce. I am a 61 year old woman and I can no longer hike for miles. My Jeep is my mode of transportation. I consider closing off the wilderness to all motorized vehicles is discrimination towards the elderly and the disabled. We can no longer enjoy certain areas that we pay tax money to maintain. When is it going to stop? Are only the young and strong going to have access to our forests? It is easy for people like Barbara Boxer to support such measures it doesn't affect her. I do not trust her at all. Our freedoms are arroding at a fast pace. Wake up America soon are we will be living in a Socialist country!!

August 04, 2008

Tom said:

To Bruce, Alice, and others: It's my understanding that the current bill will shut down few, if any roads. So, I'm not sure how your wilderness explorations will be affected by this. If you take a look at maps of the proposed wilderness additions, you'll see roads accessing these areas "cherry stemmed", i.e. motorized-restricted areas run around the roads, rather than over them.

And I'm not sure what expanding wilderness areas has to do with socialism; the two seem rather unrelated.

August 06, 2008

Mark Davis said:

This area in the White mountains was the only worthwhile compromise offered in this "compromise" proposal. It shows a lack of integrity to add this area to this wilderness proposal. The area around Mammoth, the Owens river proposal includes a well used jeep road extending off of Mountain View Trail to Crater Flat. This trail is and will continue to be used by mountain bikers and other users with or without wilderness designation. This fault in the proposed legislation assures a continuous conflict in this area. This is an intentional legislative provocation of conflict, not legitimate wilderness. The area includes MMSA's junk yard! How low will the quality of wilderness sink to please a mania for a set amount of acres? As the local bike advocate, I can honestly say we have seen no real compromise here. We are the object, not the subject.

August 12, 2008

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