Sierra Needs a Grand Plan

From Mt. Lassen in the north to Walker Pass in the south, the Sierra Nevada is arguably the nation’s most spectacular and diverse mountain range. For 350 miles, the Sierra forms a great mountain wall that culminates in a granite-spired crest reaching to the 14,495-foot summit of Mt. Whitney.

The range is spectacular and historic. The western foothills yielded gold. Yosemite is a gem of the national park system, and Kings Canyon and Sequoia parks provide rugged peaks and the inspirational giant sequoia trees. Lake Tahoe has few equals; Mono Lake’s tufa spires are unique. High Sierra snowfields produce the streams that irrigate the world’s most productive farmland and sustain the state’s two great population centers. It’s also home to a huge variety of plants and animals.

John Muir wrote eloquently of the Sierra as the “range of light,” with its sparkling granite walls and dashing waterfalls. Ansel Adams was equally poetic with a camera, whether it was photographing the stark northwest face of Half Dome or the fragile filigree of a dogwood blossom.

But today the Sierra is under severe stress. Old-growth forests are dwindling. Roads are cut ever deeper into wild lands. Plants and animals are endangered by damage to their habitats. Watersheds are eroded by logging, road construction and livestock grazing. And up and down the Mother Lode, population growth has brought blight, bad planning, air and water pollution and traffic congestion. The threat was documented by the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, commissioned by Congress and completed in 1996.

The U.S. Forest Service controls some 8.5 million acres in the Sierra through 10 administrative units, each with its own management plans. But officials came to realize that all parts of the Sierra are connected and that an integrated management plan was needed. Such a plan was ready in 1996, but the Clinton administration pulled it back after realizing how insufficient it was compared to the documented needs. A new plan was ordered.

Now the Forest Service has an opportunity to protect and restore the Sierra as one entity. The service will release its long-awaited draft master plan this summer. This needs to be a bold effort. Destructive forces have been at work in the Sierra for decades. It will take considerable political courage and determination, and strong public support, to adopt an effective plan and make it work.

We applaud the efforts of the Wilderness Society, the California Wilderness Coalition and others to document the continued loss of Sierran resources and to propose productive corrective actions.

This is an issue of importance to every Californian. More than two-thirds of the state’s residents live within a few hours’ drive of the Sierra. As California becomes increasingly crowded and developed, the range becomes ever more vital as a place for recreation, solace, renewal and rejoicing in life.

Muir wrote more than a century ago, “In God’s wildness lies the hope of the world--the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness.” The Sierra can still be such a sanctuary if we are smart enough and diligent enough to preserve and protect this remarkable natural asset.