Bush Signs Law Protecting River, Forest Area

President Bush signed legislation Friday that protects one of Southern California’s last free-flowing rivers from dam building on two of three proposed sites and designates 400,450 acres of forest as protected wilderness.

The Los Padres Wilderness Act, signed into law at a noontime meeting in Los Angeles, permanently protects 31.5 miles of Sespe Creek in Ventura County as a “wild and scenic river,” and sets aside another 10.5 miles of the river for study for possible future protection.

The act designates another 53 miles of rivers in Los Padres National Forest in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Monterey counties as wild and scenic and sets aside another 100 miles of rivers and streams for possible protection.

It creates the 220,500-acre Sespe Wilderness, a mountainous back-country region of steep-faced cliffs and rugged ravines that includes the California Condor Sanctuary, where two endangered condors bred in captivity were released earlier this year.

The act also sets up seven other wilderness areas in the forest, which spans four counties from Monterey to Los Angeles and encompasses 1.75 million acres. With the new law, 823,300 acres are designated as wilderness land where mining, logging and other development are prohibited. The wilderness is accessible only on foot or horseback.

“With the enactment of this bill, we will have permanently set aside almost half of the Los Padres National Forest as wilderness, making it one of the best-protected forests in the nation,” said Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura), who wrote the bill. “As a boy, I hiked and fished in these areas and I want to see them protected so my grandchildren can do the same.”

Bush said he was pleased to sign environmental legislation.

“By signing this bill into law, we further the protection of unique and sensitive lands within the national forest system,” he said in a statement. “I remain deeply committed to preserving our valuable natural resources.”

Bush’s signature culminates a five-year battle between environmentalists who fought for greater protection than provided in the law and water development interests who wanted to leave more of the river available for dams.

Alisdair Coyne, conservation director of the Keep the Sespe Wild Committee, said his group would continue working to protect all 55 miles of the Sespe Creek, a sometimes trickling stream that surges to a half-mile-wide river during winter storms and spring runoff.

The legislation precludes dam building in two locations deep within the Sespe Wilderness. But it leaves open the possibility of a dam downriver at Oat Mountain, just north of the city of Fillmore.

“This bill is one step on the way,” Coyne said. “But we will continue to work until our goal is reached.”

Sen. John Seymour (R-California), who co-sponsored the bill with Lagomarsino in Congress, was with the President on Friday when he signed the bill. Seymour and Lagomarsino agreed to leave open the possibility of a dam in a growing area that has just emerged from a five-year drought.

“Congress felt it would be shortsighted to permanently foreclose all options for water development,” Lagomarsino said.

Both of the bill’s sponsors were scheduled to present a signed copy today to forest superintendent David Dahl at forest headquarters in Goleta, north of Santa Barbara.

Protecting Sespe Creek

The Los Padres Wilderness Act permanently protects 31.5 miles of Sespe Creek as a wild and scenic river and sets aside another 10.5 miles for study for possible future protection. It leaves open the possibility of building a dam on the lower five miles of the creek.