Preservationists, Builders Tug at Coachella Valley

As a proposed national monument in the mountains and foothills south of Palm Springs comes before Congress, a race for the summit is on between pro-growth and preservationist forces in the rapidly growing Coachella Valley.

The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, proposed by Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs), would protect 272,000 acres in the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains south of Palm Springs and neighboring cities under the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. The House of Representatives may vote on the legislation as early as Monday.

The proposed monument is one of three overlapping preserves under consideration to protect desert hillside habitat in the area. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service just announced plans to set aside a vast swath of land for endangered peninsular bighorn sheep, and a Coachella Valley multispecies plan--a system of preserves for desert plants and animals--also is in the works.

The San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains rise from palm oases in the Coachella Valley to rocky peaks and pine forests. They are home to animals including bighorns and desert tortoises, mountain lions and golden eagles. The slopes also offer popular hiking trails and panoramic vistas.

And they are the coveted locations of proposed luxury resorts and golf courses. Eager to stake a claim on those hillsides, environmental groups, building industry advocates and local cities are jostling for ground on the monument.

“It’s a political football that’s bouncing very high,” said Jeff Morgan, vice chairman of the Tahquitz Group of the Sierra Club.

Environmental groups are calling for stricter protections and expanded boundaries, while the city of Palm Springs and some private property advocates are pushing for a smaller monument with fewer restrictions.

“The development is going at such a rapid rate in the mountains, it’s just unprecedented,” Morgan said. “The mountains are desperately in need of urgent protection from imminent developmental dangers, or else they will be destroyed.”

Though his city has taken a neutral position on the monument, Palm Springs Mayor William G. Kleindienst said that increased federal authority could stifle local economic growth.

“The city of Palm Springs, of all the cities in the Coachella Valley affected by this monument, has a very large portion of its incorporated area being put in the monument,” he said. “There’s not too many cities in the world that would say OK to that. When the federal government comes and drops an overlay of any kind over it, it takes away local control.”

The proposed boundary of the monument would include foothills in most places, but would move farther up the slope south of the city of La Quinta and along the perimeters of three proposed resort developments in Palm Springs.

Palm Springs officials, who requested that those areas not be included in the monument to avoid building restrictions, voiced disappointment that a fourth proposed development site higher in the foothills remains within the boundaries. Environmentalists insist that the entire foothill area, home to bighorn sheep, should be part of the monument.

Also being contested are amendments to the bill, added in committee by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Tracy), that bolster the rights of private property owners within the monument and limit sources of federal money to buy them out.

The fight has forced advocacy groups to take unusual positions. The Sierra Club, a natural ally of desert protection measures, is threatening to oppose the bill if it isn’t strengthened.

Leaders of the group hope that if the bill is defeated, President Clinton will declare an expanded monument by executive order, as he has done in other recent cases. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt originally proposed the monument to Clinton, but turned it over to Bono at her request and that of Palm Springs officials.

And the Building Industry Assn., a trade group of developers, supports Bono’s bill and will oppose Pombo’s property-rights amendments if they endanger its passage.

“Our concern is that the amendments could well kill the bill,” said Ed Kibbey, executive director of the desert chapter of the association. “And then we’d have to deal with a Clinton variety and we don’t in any way want that.”

Bono said she’s working to reconcile conflicting interests and negotiate with Pombo to alter his amendments. She dismissed complaints that the monument bill doesn’t do enough, arguing that the monument, along with the Coachella Valley multispecies plan, the federal Endangered Species Act and local zoning ordinances together “weave together a fabric of protection.”

Environmentalists and growth advocates say keeping track of the plans is a challenge. The monument bill changes daily, the multispecies plan is in the midst of a years-long preparation process, and the federal bighorn sheep habitat plan is opening for public review this week.

Bill Havert, executive director of the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, the agency responsible for the multispecies plan, said there’s no doubt that there will be a national monument in the desert mountains.

“The question is whether it will be done by Congress or by an executive order,” he said. “With the election coming up, it’s no mystery that, if Congress doesn’t act within the next few months, the likelihood is very high that the president will. We’re hopeful that Congress will act, and produce a good bill.”