Bill to Protect Desert Draws a Noisy 2,000

A boisterous crowd of nearly 2,000 gathered here Saturday for a congressional hearing on legislation designed to protect the California desert by creating three national parks.

Waving signs and chanting cheers in a way reminiscent of a high school pep rally, opponents on both sides of the mushrooming desert preservation battle staged raucous demonstrations before crowding into a hall to testify before a congressional committee.

“Passing this law would be like fencing off the desert, and my livelihood would be taken away,” said Bob Meeh, 42, a limestone miner in Lucerne Valley, as he held a “Save Our Jobs” sign above his head. “That doesn’t sit too well with me.”

Electrical engineer Dave MacKenzie expressed a different view.

“The desert is an extremely sensitive space and we have already done it great damage,” said MacKenzie, 43, a hiker and bird watcher from San Diego. “It would be a wise investment for all Californians to protect this spectacular place now.”

Barstow police--fearing a flare-up of tempers--increased security for the hearing, but there were no arrests or confrontations.

“There was a lot of yelling back and forth, but mostly people were orderly,” a police spokesman said.

The focus of the hearing, convened by the House national parks and public lands subcommittee, was the California Desert Protection Act, proposed by Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) and Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.).

The bill would create a 1.5-million acre national park in the Mojave Desert, east of Barstow, and greatly expand Death Valley and Joshua Tree national monuments, while redesignating them as national parks.

Another 4.4 million acres of desert would be set aside in 81 wilderness areas stretching from the White Mountains near Bishop south to the Algodones Dunes near the U.S.-Mexican border. And 3 million acres now controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management would be transferred to the National Park Service, which conservationists believe would be a more vigilant steward.

Advocates believe the bill is vital to safeguard the future of the desert and its denizens, many of which have become imperiled by encroaching urbanization and increasing recreational use.

Environmentalists say mining, livestock grazing, military maneuvers and off-road vehicle riding are among activities that have harmed the desert, a fragile ecosystem that is slow to heal because it receives so little rainfall.

Opponents argue that the measure would reserve the desert for the enjoyment of the few, “locking out” those whose activities would be limited or banned in wilderness areas and national parks.

Many of these foes favor a competing bill, introduced recently by Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands). The proposal, which Lewis calls “the people’s bill,” would designate 2.1 million acres of desert as wilderness, while preserving grazing and mining rights.

As early as 6 a.m. Saturday, participants began streaming toward the hearing and the lively rallies that preceded it. Supporters of the bill--including members of the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society as well as other conservation groups--turned out in bright yellow T-shirts and came from as far away as Las Vegas and Sacramento.

“The turnout is symbolic of the importance of this battle,” said Patricia Schifferle, California regional director of the Wilderness Society. “Here in the desert, you have an evolutionary record of adaptation that spans 40 million years. . . . Its significance and need for protection can’t be overstated.”

Opponents also journeyed long distances. Some traveled in convoys of motorcycles 20 riders long, while workers in at least one desert mine rode to the hearing on buses rented by their employer, who also supplied box lunches.

While an overflow crowd listened to the proceedings outside the meeting hall, those testifying inside mostly repeated arguments that have grown familiar after years of debate on the issue. But some offered new ideas.

A few opponents, for example, suggested the Cranston-Levine act would lead to drug use by teen-agers no longer able to ride all-terrain vehicles in the desert. Another warned it would threaten the family unit by prohibiting car camping in wilderness areas.

Environmentalists told of seeing once-pristine sand dunes scarred by off-road vehicle tracks, of no longer seeing kangaroo rats or prairie falcons in places where they once thrived.

Responding to opponents’ claim that the legislation would lock them out of the desert, Don Moore of Ridgecrest said hikers and others who appreciate the desert for its serenity and wild inhabitants already have had their hobbies spoiled.

“We have been locked out--locked out by the off-roaders, whose sport is destruction,” said Moore, a member of the Kerncrest Audubon Society.

Erick Briggs, 11, was among the hundreds of desert lovers who did not get a chance to speak Saturday. Erick, of Desert Hot Springs, wanted to tell the congressmen about the desert tortoise, a species recently declared endangered under an emergency federal action.

He brought along his two pet tortoises--legally registered with the state Department of Fish and Game--to underscore his argument. Holding Franklin in one hand and Teddy in the other, he explained that he was worried about the remaining desert tortoises struggling to fend off threats from predatory ravens, disease, a shortage of food caused by competition with cattle and careless off-road vehicle users.

“There are all kinds of problems--like predators, people shooting them and people running over them,” Erick said. “They have to be protected.”

Saturday’s hearing was one of three field hearings on the legislation to be held in California. The final one will be in Los Angeles early next year.