Bush Plans to Sign Bill Protecting Sespe Creek : Wilderness: A congressional staff member says the legislation could be made official in a ceremony in California.

WASHINGTON — President Bush plans to sign a long-debated measure that would protect most of Ventura County’s only remaining wild river, say Capitol Hill aides familiar with the legislation. He may do so as soon as next week at a signing ceremony in California.

The Los Padres Wilderness Bill, which was passed by the Senate last week, 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 further study.

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

The measure was hotly debated in the House. Some environmentalists said it did not go far enough in protecting the rivers, including all 55 miles of the Sespe. Citrus and avocado ranchers and water agency leaders maintained that it might foreclose a future source of freshwater in a county with insufficient long-term supplies.

The White House has not commented on the President’s intention. But an aide to Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.), who was instrumental in the measure’s passage, said Administration officials have indicated that Bush “is going to sign it as soon as it gets to his desk.”

Another congressional staff member said the White House may arrange for a signing ceremony during an upcoming presidential trip to California. Seymour and Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) would be present at the ceremony, the staff member said.

Lagomarsino, the bill’s original sponsor, saw it gain final passage two days after he was defeated in the June 2 primary election.

Under the law, 10 1/2 miles of the Sespe, beginning eight miles from the river’s headwaters in the northwestern corner of Ventura County, would be protected from development for at least six years while it is studied for possible future designation as wild and scenic.

The lower five miles of the creek would be left open to development of a future dam near Oat Mountain, five miles north of Fillmore. Conservationists have vowed to continue to work to preserve all 55 miles of the river as scenic and wild.