Protecting the Desert

Your editorial misses the point when it comes to sorely needed protection for the California desert. Your emphasis is on the need for compromise, rather than the need to protect the desert. The issue is not how many acres to take out of the legislation, but how best to protect the remaining pristine desert lands.

The statement that the proponents of the bill have been reluctant to make any concessions is patently false. In fact, about 88,000 acres of concessions have been made so far--based on rational negotiations of substantive conflicts. All of these changes have been initiated by conservationists, not by the anti-wilderness forces.

It is the conservationists who have been willing to come to the table. The off-road vehicle users and miners, with their typical knee-jerk anti-wilderness attitudes, have for the most part been unwilling to talk any specifics.

So the ones stalling the whole process of desert protection are not the conservationists. It is Sen. Pete Wilson, who has refused for three years to say where he stands, and the House members who seem blind to the fact that Californians demand more protection for their desert.

JEFF WIDEN

California Desert Coordinator

Sierra Club