Measure Increases Wilderness Area

The House passed legislation Monday nearly doubling the amount of land to be preserved as wilderness in California’s sprawling Los Padres National Forest and designating three rivers in the area as wild and scenic.

Los Padres, the second-largest national forest in California, encompasses nearly 2 million acres of rugged mountains, conifer forests, grasslands and chaparral stretching from Monterey south to the outskirts of Los Angeles.

Under the bill, 45% of the forest would be preserved in its pristine, natural state.

The measure would create 378,000 acres of new wilderness in Los Padres, bringing the total expanse of wilderness there to 791,000 acres in nine areas. The legislation also would protect portions of three rivers, totaling 82 miles, as wild and scenic--the Sespe, the Sisquoc and the Big Sur.

The bill now goes to the Senate.