Current Wilderness Issues:

CACHE CREEK WILD & SCENIC RIVER BILL HAS BEEN SIGNED INTO LAW!

Your support made it possible. Thank you!

On October 6, 2005 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assemblymember Lois Wolk's AB 1328, the Cache Creek bill, into law. AB 1328 received bipartisan support in the legislature.

This means that 31 miles of Cache Creek, flowing primarily through public lands in Lake and Yolo Counties, will be added to California's state system of wild and scenic rivers. Designation of the creek as wild and scenic will prohibit new dams and water diversions and will help protect the creek's extraordinary scenic, recreational, wildlife, and fishery values.

Need some great reasons to celebrate Cache Creek's protection? Here are a few:

• 1) Cache Creek provides lush vegetation, pristine waters and fresh air for diverse species of wildlife. Bald eagles, ospreys, tule elk, black bears, mountain lions, and river otter flourish in this amazing habitat.
• 2) Cache Creek offers outdoor enthusiasts an amazing number of activities including hiking, horseback riding, birding, hunting, fishing, river rafting, and camping.
• Prohibit any new dams or diversions on the designated segment, but not affect the operation of existing upstream and downstream water facilities.
• 3) Protecting Cache Creek can give an economic boost to local business because a Wild and Scenic designation will bring visitors from all over eager to see our wild river.

For our full press release, go to http://www.californiawild.org/Press/2005_10_07_CWHC_PressRelease.html

Help us thank Assemblymember Wolk and Governor Schwarzenegger for their key roles in getting AB 1328 introduced and passed. Write a letter to them at:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

Assemblymember Wolk
District Office
555 Mason Street, Suite 275
Vacaville, CA 95688

Wild Heritage Wilderness Act Campaign

The Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter Wilderness Subcommittee has been working on the preservation of 2.5 million acres of wild lands and 400 miles of 22 free-flowing wild and scenic river segments across California in a bill introduced in 2002 by Senator Barbara Boxer.

It is crucial that these bills pass in Congress. The reclassification of existing federal lands to ones bearing Wilderness status will protect vital watersheds for drinking water, continue supporting the economically significant tourism industry, ensure individual access to public recreation areas, protect natural ecosystems of international importance and preserve our national heritage.

Each year, millions of visitors flock to wild places such as Yosemite National Park, Big Sur and Lake Tahoe to experience the beauty of these locations and the solitude of the wilderness areas adjacent to them. Their visits inject millions of dollars into nearby communities resulting in the creation of local jobs. However, in the last twenty years, California has lost nearly 700,000 acres of pristine wilderness-quality land to logging, road building, oil and gas drilling, illegal Off-Road Vehicle and dirt bike use, dams and shortsighted, poorly planned development. However, in the last twenty years, California has lost nearly 700,000 acres of pristine wilderness-quality land to logging, road building, oil and gas drilling, illegal Off-Road Vehicle and dirt bike use, dams and shortsighted, poorly planned development.

The California Wild Heritage Campaign, working alongside Senator Boxer, Representative Thompson, Senator Feinstein and Representative Solis strives to promote the passage of five bills, which would protect wild places. The current roster of Wild Heritage Bills include:

• S. 1555, The California Wild Heritage Act (Boxer)
• S. 128 The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Act (Boxer)*
• H.R. 233 The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Act (Thompson)*
• H.R. 3325 - The Southern California Wild Heritage Wilderness and Wild Rivers Act (Solis)
• H.R. 3327- The Northen California Wild Heritage Act (Thompson)

The California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act bill remains the most diverse, accessible and encompassing array of California’s wild places ever to be included in a single initiative. It will protect habitat for more than 250 endangered species including the California Condor, bald eagles, the oldest living trees on earth (bristlecone pines in the White Mountains and one of the longest un-dammed rivers in the Sierra Nevada.

The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Act is being championed by Representative Mike Thompson and Senator Barbara Boxer in the Senate, and seeks to protect 300,000 acres of coastal redwoods, wild rivers and threatened CA coastal landscape. Areas proposed for protection under this bill include the Lost Coast, Cache Creek Proposed Wilderness, Snow Mountain Proposed Wilderness and Black Butte River Proposed Wild and Scenic River.