Committee sets vote on wilderness bills

November 18, 2019

The House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday will vote on eight bills, including legislation that would designate swaths of land in California, Colorado and Washington as wilderness.

H.R. 2546, sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), would designate 33 areas — spanning 740,000 acres — as wilderness, many of them containing "midelevation ecosystems" that are used for outdoor recreation and provide habitat for several plant and animal species.

The DeGette proposal is the second major public lands package involving federal tracts in the Centennial State recently.

The House on Oct. 31 passed the "Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act," which would designate roughly 73,000 acres as new wilderness and nearly 80,000 acres as new recreation and conservation management areas for activities such as hiking and biking (Greenwire, Oct. 31).

Three bills from California Democrats that would create or expand wilderness in the Golden State also are on tap for the Wednesday markup.

"The Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act," H.R. 2250, from Rep. Jared Huffman, would authorize eight new wilderness areas and expand nine others, protecting 260,000 acres of federal public land.

Huffman's bill would designate 379 miles of new wild and scenic rivers and create the Northwest California Public Lands Remediation Partnership, which would restore public lands damaged by illegal marijuana growing.

Rep. Judy Chu's "San Gabriel Mountains Foothills and Rivers Protection Act," H.R. 2215, would establish the San Gabriel National Recreation Area as a unit with the national park system and create four wilderness designations.

And a measure from Rep. Salud Carbajal, the "Central Coast Heritage Protection Act," H.R. 2199, would add to or develop at least 17 smaller wilderness sites, building a new 400-mile-long trail to connect Los Angeles and Monterey counties.

The committee will also consider H.R. 2642, the "Wild Olympic Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act," from Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), that would designate and expand wilderness areas and rivers in Olympic National Forest, protecting 126,500 acres of land and 19 rivers.

The legislation would authorize the first new wilderness areas in the forest in 30 years and the first-ever wild and scenic river designation on the Olympic Peninsula.

Other bills up for markup are:

  • H.R. 1708, from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), which would adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor.
  • H.R. 2854, from New York Democratic Rep. Nydia Velázquez, to amend the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 to prohibit the use of neonicotinoids in a national wildlife refuge.
  • S. 216, from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), which would provide for "equitable compensation to the Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation for the use of tribal land for the production of hydropower by the Grand Coulee Dam."

Schedule: The markup is Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 10 a.m. in 1324 Longworth.


By:  Kellie Lunney
Source: E&E News