Noisy Crowd Debates Desert Lands Bill

Nearly 2,000 people flocked to a congressional hearing in Beverly Hills Saturday where they shouted, booed and whistled their support or opposition to a controversial proposal that would drastically alter the use of 4.5 million acres of the California desert.

The opposing sides--ranging from environmentalists and politicians to desert dwellers and motorcycle enthusiasts--wore different colors to denote where they stood on the measure: yellow meant you supported passage of the legislation; orange meant you were against it.

At issue is HR 780, commonly called the California Desert Protection Act, a bill now pending before Congress that would greatly expand Death Valley and Joshua Tree national monuments and also establish a new national park of 1.5 million acres in the eastern Mojave Desert.

The proposal would ban off-road vehicle traffic in 65,000 acres of desert spread around the state, restrict mining and establish wilderness areas to protect plants and wildlife in selected areas from Inyo County to the Mexican border.

Emotions ran high at Saturday’s meeting, the fourth and final congressional hearing before the subcommittee on national parks and public lands chaired by Rep. Bruce F. Vento (D-Minn.)

Vento repeatedly had to gavel the audience into silence as more than 100 speakers took turns at the microphone to air their views on the bill.

When supporters of the bill spoke, members of the audience wearing yellow T-shirts, caps, buttons and ribbons erupted in applause, while orange-clad opponents booed lustily.

At one point, the orange-clad crowd--many of them off-road enthusiasts--chanted “No! No! No! No!” while the yellow-clad crowd--the environmentalists--shouted “Yes!” on the off-beats.

The overflow audience filled the Beverly Hills High School auditorium, even forcing state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp to sit cross-legged on the floor as he awaited his turn at the microphone.

Outside, hundreds of people carried placards or sported stickers with political slogans as they relaxed on the school’s front lawn.

Responding to the noisy chants in the auditorium, Vento commented dryly: “It may be unusual for you to listen to views you don’t agree with.”

Among those who spoke were Van de Kamp, state Controller Gray Davis, Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky and various local officials from throughout the state.

Van de Kamp, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor, said the bill would protect the desert for future generations of Californians by placing millions of acres under the protection of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

“This bill is fair, it’s balanced,” Van de Kamp said. “It has been carefully written to respect the needs and the rights of mining interests, of off-road vehicle users, of the military.”

Briefly mentioning his rival in the governor’s race, Van de Kamp wondered out loud why Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) did not attend the hearing to support the bill. Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) upbraided Van de Kamp and said Wilson has supported legislation to protect the desert in the past.

“Your gratuitous slap (at Wilson) reflects a lack of understanding,” Lewis said.

Lewis also released a letter from James M. Ridenour, director of the National Park Service, saying that the agency and the Bush Administration oppose the desert bill because it would unnecessarily expand the national park system and ignores earlier federal legislation that created a program to manage the California desert.

Rep. Ron Marlenee (R-Minn.), a subcommittee member, prompted cheers from the orange-garbed part of the crowd when he said it was excessive to “lock up an area seven times the size of Delaware.”

“You have stolen recreation opportunities from California families,” he said.

But Robert W. Bruesch, a Rosemead city councilman, said the bill would stop irresponsible sportsmen from destroying the desert. Once an avid off-road rider, Bruesch said his delight in the pastime paled after he “saw friends purposely driving over desert snakes.”

Tim Ryan, an off-road enthusiast who came dressed as a tortoise, said current federal laws protect the desert adequately. Ryan, of Mission Viejo, distributed flyers outside the packed auditorium.

“Our biggest enemies are environmental extremists,” he said.