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Volume 41, Number 6, 2002 |
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Big
Sur Wilderness Bill Passes Congress
Both houses of the U.S. Congress have approved Representative Sam Farr’s
Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002 which would protect about 55,000
acres of Central Coast land as wilderness. As we go to press the bill is on the
desk of President Bush who is expected to sign it.
The bill represents the largest wilderness additions in California since the 1994
California Desert Protection Act and the first new wilderness in Monterey County
in ten years. It will increase the wilderness area in the county by nearly 25%,
adding over 34,000 acres to the Ventana Wilderness and more than doubling the
size of the Silver Peak Wilderness with over 17,000 additional acres. The bill
also designates over 2,700 acres in Pinnacles National Monument ... [more] |
Help educate California officials on importance of
protecting wildlands and rivers
From the north coast’s King Range to Death Valley, from the bristlecone pine
forests of the White Mountains to Sequoia and Kings Canyon, California has an
amazing array of wildlands. But we are losing our remaining wild areas at a rapid
rate, and new threats arise every day. Last summer, the Bush administration announced
plans to drill for oil and gas in pristine roadless areas near Santa Barbara ...
[more]
Added highway lanes can’t fix congestion
What’s your vision of the future in Santa Cruz County? Do you see miles of
stop-and-go traffic surrounded by high, concrete block walls on a multi-laned
Highway 1? Do you see our communities paved over with parking lots and garages?
Or, would you like to see a bike and walking trail along the Union Pacific tracks?
How about a unique mass transit system such as a quiet coastal trolley? Would
you like to live close to your workplace and shopping so you could just walk along
wider, tree-shaded sidewalks? ... [more] |
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Work for healthy forests
Clear cutting in California forests has increased by 225% since 1994. In the Sierra
Nevada the increase is over 2000%. All major streams in the northern third of
the state, have been declared impaired under the Clean Water Act, primarily because
of pollution from clear cuts, which includes toxic herbicides and silt. All major
streams in Santa Cruz County have also been declared impaired as a result of sediment
from logging and other roads ... [more] |
Santa Cruz bans commercial logging
in watershed
The Santa Cruz City Council approved unanimously on November 12 a motion to end
commercial logging on 3,880 acres of city-owned watershed lands that serve as
the source of drinking water for Santa Cruz. “This is a huge victory,”
said Council member Keith Sugar. “We have designated the largest chunk of
forest land outside of State Parks in our county off-limits to logging,”
he continued ... [more] |
Marine Reserve designation to protect
Channel Islands ecosystem
In late October the California Fish & Game Commission voted to ban fishing
from 175 square miles of State-controlled waters around the five Channel Islands
off Santa Barbara. The Channel Islands have been designated as a National Park,
a National Marine Sanctuary, and a United Nations Biosphere Reserve because of
their awesome beauty and spectacular diversity of life. Yet before Fish and Game’s
landmark vote, less than one percent of the sanctuary was fully protected and
off-limits to fishing ... [more] |
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