Feinstein to Lead Off With Desert Bill

Moving quickly to unveil her first piece of legislation, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is expected to introduce a controversial proposal today that would preserve 7 million acres of the vast California desert.

A nearly identical bill, drafted by former Sen. Alan Cranston, was bottled up for six years by California Republicans, who contended that the legislation would cost hundreds of jobs and seal off much of the desert from mining, dirt bikes and recreational use.

With the election of two California Democrats to the Senate who solidly support the legislation, Feinstein hopes that the bill will become law soon, perhaps within 100 days.

By introducing the California Desert Protection Act on the first day that Senate bills can be filed in the 103rd Congress, Feinstein is serving notice that desert protection is one of her top legislative priorities.

“I’ve seen a bill stymied for a long time,” Feinstein said. “Now the important thing is to get the original purpose of the bill in place.”

So far, Feinstein has signed up 18 senators, including Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), to co-sponsor the bill. By making concessions to the U.S. Army and to a Canadian mining company, Feinstein succeeded in attracting the support of two influential senators, Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who could have held up passage of the bill.

Feinstein has been criticized by one desert-area Republican House member, who said she had failed to meet with him and other area congressmen before offering the legislation.

Feinstein called her bill “a first step” in the legislative process, saying that she intends to meet with interested California House members and that she is prepared to make further changes.

The California desert covers 25 million acres of remarkably diverse terrain in the state’s southeast. Sand dunes, extinct volcanoes, 90 mountain ranges, the world’s largest Joshua tree forest and more than 100,000 archeological sites can be found there. The area is home to more than 760 wildlife species, including the threatened desert tortoise.

Feinstein’s measure would designate 74 wilderness areas and would upgrade the East Mojave National Scenic Area, the Death Valley National Monument and the Joshua Tree National Monument to national parks.

Perhaps the biggest impact would be on the scenic East Mojave, currently controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Under current law, extensive cattle ranching and mining are permitted. These activities, environmentalists say, hurt desert tortoises and scenic mountain ranges.

For the most part, environmentalists are ecstatic over the prospect that much of the desert finally will be placed under the prestigious National Park Service.

“We’re really excited,” said Elden Hughes, chairman of the Sierra Club’s Desert Committee. “We are fast losing the chance to forever preserve this vast area of gorgeous places.”

Many Mojave ranchers, miners and residents, however, remain opposed to the legislation.

“They’re still not addressing the tremendous inholdings that our industry has in federal land,” said Dave Fisher, president of the High Desert Cattlemen’s Assn. “It is just Cranston all over again. They are riding a good horse plumb into the ground.”

In an interview, Rep. William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield) accused Feinstein of abandoning her pledge to unite the often-fractious California congressional delegation after only a few weeks in office.

“On one hand, she is urging that we have breakfast together and have the delegation be unified,” Thomas said. “On the other hand, she is carrying out with minor exception exactly the position Cranston did while making no attempt to meet and reach middle ground with those of us who represent the area.”

Other desert-area congressmen, such as Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) and Rep. Alfred A. McCandless (R-La Quinta), declined to criticize Feinstein. They said Feinstein has expressed a willingness to work with them, and they are interested in discussing their opposition to the bill with her.

Over the last six years, California Republican Sens. John Seymour and Pete Wilson prevented the legislation from getting through the Senate. The House passed a similar desert protection bill in late 1991, although neither the Cranston bill nor the House legislation contained the military and mining revisions proposed by Feinstein.

The Feinstein bill would withdraw three wilderness areas surrounding Ft. Irwin and its tank warfare training center to allow for unspecified expansion plans by the Army. By conceding to the Army’s demands, Feinstein gained the support of Nunn, the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Because part of the land surrounding Ft. Irwin is prime desert tortoise habitat, environmentalists hope the change will not be adopted by the House. Although supportive of Feinstein’s bill, environmentalists consider the Army’s demands “misguided,” said Norbert Riedy Jr., a senior policy analyst with the Wilderness Society.

Feinstein also removed a 31,000-acre mining claim block owned by the Viceroy Resource Corp. from the boundaries of the proposed East Mojave National Park. This change would allow Viceroy to continue mining for up to 40 years at the site under the oversight of the BLM, not the Park Service.

“This is not a time in California to monkey with anyone’s job by federal legislation,” Feinstein said.

This concession helped Feinstein get the support of Reid, the son of a hard-rock miner who grew up in Searchlight, Nev. Many Searchlight residents work at the Viceroy mine.

The Viceroy mine, about 100 miles south of Las Vegas in the abandoned prospecting town of Hart, Calif., produced its first gold brick last February and is expected to yield more than 100,000 ounces in its first year. The operation employs about 200 workers and is expected to add up to 30 more by summer, President D. Ross Fitzpatrick said.

But Peter Burk, president and founder of Citizens for Mojave National Park, noted that Viceroy is a Canadian firm that employs mostly Nevada workers. Only 20% of the company’s employees live in California, although Viceroy officials estimate that they spend about $35 million a year in California and contract with 100 vendors in the state.

Burk said his group will fight against allowing Viceroy to mine outside the park.

“We’re trying to save the best part of the Mojave Desert for our children and our grandchildren,” Burk said. “Part of (the Viceroy mine) and adjacent areas is an integral part of the park program. It has bighorn sheep and Joshua tree forests.”

Fitzpatrick said his company has proven it is sensitive to the environment by agreeing to an unprecedented $4.4-million mitigation plan to reclaim the area and protect the tortoise.

Desert Protection

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today plans to introduce legislation that would protect 7 million acres of the California desert. It is the largest land protection measure of its kind in the continental United States, involving 74 wilderness areas. Here is a look at the complex proposal: