Bill to Protect Sespe Creek Goes to Bush : Environment: More than 30 miles would be designated as wild and scenic. Some want all 55 miles saved from damming.

Long-debated legislation to protect Ventura County’s only remaining wild river passed the U. S. Senate on Thursday and is headed for the desk of President Bush, aides to Sen. John Seymour said.

The Los Padres Wilderness Bill would prevent dams on two of three proposed sites along Sespe Creek by designating 31 1/2 miles of the 55-mile creek as a wild and scenic river and setting aside another 10 1/2 miles for future study.

The bill also protects 152 miles of two other rivers in Monterey County and creates more than 400,000 acres of new wilderness areas in the Los Padres National Forest, including the 220,500-acre Sespe Wilderness in Ventura County.

The bill, which was authored in the House by Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura), was supported by both California senators, Democrat Alan Cranston and Republican John Seymour.

It has drawn criticism both from environmentalists, who said its protection measures were too lax, and business leaders, who contended that it might foreclose a future source of fresh water.

But after initial debates in the House, the bill encountered no substantial opposition in the Senate, congressional aides said.

“I hope President Bush will act quickly to sign the Los Padres Wilderness Bill into law,” Seymour said in a statement. A White House spokesman declined to comment on the President’s intentions.

As passed by Congress, the bill leaves the lower five miles of the creek open to development of a future dam near Oat Mountain, about five miles north of Fillmore.

Lagomarsino has argued that it would be inappropriate to protect that area because most of it lies outside of the forest boundaries and winds through the city of Fillmore.

“When you put a wild and scenic designation where it doesn’t fit, it degrades the whole (wild and scenic river) system,” he said. He added that any serious proposals to build a dam on the river would probably come to a public vote before it was pursued.

But Alisdair Coyne, conservation director of the Keep the Sespe Wild Committee, said the bill should protect the entire 55 miles of the river.

“Our goal is still the same: to preserve the whole of the Sespe as a wild and scenic river as it deserves,” Coyne said. “This bill is one step on the way, and we will continue to work until our goal is reached.”

Coyne said his group will start to lobby for more protections as soon as the November elections determine who represents the area in Congress.

Lagomarsino was defeated in Tuesday’s Republican primary. “I don’t think anyone else but Bob Lagomarsino could have brought Republicans and Democrats together on this bill,” said Carolyn Leavens, a Ventura businesswoman who led the charge to keep the river open to future development. “We’re really grateful to him.”

She described the final version of the bill as a “well-balanced compromise.”

Frederick J. Gientke, manager of the United Water Conservation District, called the bill’s passage “good news for both sides.”

“It would have been a tragedy for this county if the wild and scenic designation had gone through for the whole river,” he said.

The legislation divides Sespe Creek into several segments.

It sets aside 10 1/2 miles for future study, beginning eight miles from the river’s headwaters in the northwestern corner of Ventura County. That segment would be protected from development for at least six years while the area is studied for possible future designation as wild and scenic.

The study area includes the Cold Spring dam site, about three miles east of the Sespe’s intersection with California 33. A dam at that location would produce about 10,000 acre-feet of water a year, enough water for about 20,000 families or about 2% of the county’s annual water use.

The bill protects a separate 31 1/2-mile segment of the river from Rock Creek to a spot just north of Oat Mountain by granting it wild and scenic status. That segment includes the proposed Topatopa dam site.

But Coyne and members of the Sierra Club praised the creation of wilderness area in Ventura County. Sally Reid, a Sierra Club member who coordinated the efforts of environmental groups, said the creation of the Sespe, Chumash and Matilija wildernesses are a great asset to the county.

“We had to fight very hard for everything we got,” she said. “We can all be very pleased with the results.”

She said her group would continue working to get another 80,000 acres designated as wilderness in the county.