House Vote Downgrades Desert Land Status : Environment: Protection act would create only a preserve, not a national park. GOP victory puts the future of the Senate’s version of the bill in doubt.

The House, in a victory for a group of determined Southern California Republicans, on Tuesday approved an amendment to the California Desert Protection Act that downgrades a proposed national park in the East Mojave to “preserve” status and allows hunting to continue in the rugged area.

The margin of victory, 239-183, was a clear setback for Natural Resources Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Martinez), who has seen his hopes of speedy House action dashed by stiff resistance from a band of opponents led by Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands).

The Senate version of the desert bill, sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), passed overwhelmingly in April and House approval was seen as an even easier task.

But Tuesday’s House vote on the East Mojave throws a major kink into the bill’s future. Feinstein’s Senate version calls for the creation of a 1.2-million-acre Mojave National Park--considered the bill’s centerpiece--where hunting would be banned. Now that the House has approved the hunting-preserve designation, the upcoming conference committee will have a more difficult time reconciling the two versions of the bill.

More debate on the desert bill is expected today.

Despite the Republicans’ victory Tuesday, the House is expected to pass a desert bill that will protect about 8 million acres of California desert and upgrade the Death Valley and Joshua Tree national monuments to full park status.

Lewis--who along with Republican Reps. Bill Thomas of Bakersfield, Duncan Hunter of El Cajon, Al McCandless of La Quinta and Howard P. McKeon of Santa Clarita, have launched a rear-guard action against the Miller bill--was jubilant over the wide margin of victory.

“This was a great day,” Lewis said. “We have a very, very good shot at having the amendment make it through (to final passage). This will be a much different conference than Sen. Feinstein predicted.”

The five Republicans began their attack after Miller bypassed subcommittee hearings and took the bill straight to the House floor. They tacked on 45 amendments, slowing its legislative pace to a crawl. Lewis decried Miller’s heavy-handed tactics and said the Republicans’ message finally got through.

“One way or another, members have come to see that the chairman was so arbitrary in his handling of the bill that they began to listen,” Lewis said.

Tim Ahern, a Miller spokesman, expressed disappointment.

“This is not how we wished it had turned out. Now we’ll sit down with the conference committee and work it out. We don’t think it’s insurmountable.”

But Miller’s once-optimistic predictions about the bill’s passage have been sunk.

“We’re calling George Miller Moses, “ quipped Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). “He led us into the desert and we can’t seem to get out.”

Wildlife groups were aghast at the vote.

“The House killed what would have been our 52nd national park in order to throw a bone to the NRA,” said Brigid Dunne, a spokesman for the Fund for Animals. “It will be a miracle to regain in conference what we’ve lost (Tuesday).”

During debate on the East Mojave amendment, sponsored by Rep. Larry LaRocco (D-Ida.), supporters argued that the region is a hunter’s paradise where fathers and sons can spend “quality time” while passing down the hunting tradition. Lewis argued that banning hunting in the East Mojave “is a big issue to a small band of environmental elitists.”

But Rep. Bruce F. Vento (D-Minn.) argued that to allow hunting in the East Mojave “stands the concept of a national park on its head.”

And Democrats repeatedly countered with statistics saying that only 30 deer were taken by hunters in the area last year and that 70% of Californians in a Field Poll wanted the area to become a national park.

The desert bill has been a top priority of environmentalists, who have fought for more than a decade to shelter the fragile southeastern California region, which is more than twice the size of Rhode Island.