Poll: Voters have wild concerns

Prospective voters in at least two of California’s congressional districts overwhelmingly support increased permanent protection of the state’s remaining federal lands and rivers, according to a new poll commissioned by the conservation group Trout Unlimited.

The poll, conducted by an independent firm, surveyed the 24th and 25th districts -- covering most or all of Los Angeles and Ventura counties -- and sampled 400 “likely voters” in each district. More than 70% say they use public lands for hiking or camping, while 35% hunt or fish on publicly owned waterways.

When told that only 1% of California’s federally owned waterways were permanently protected, 60% of respondents favored more protection.

More than 80% said they wanted to protect public lands from off-road vehicle use and nearly 80% said public lands should be protected from oil and gas drilling, logging and other “destructive” development.

The poll “clearly demonstrates that the public wants more of the lands and rivers that belong to them to be permanently protected,” Tim Alpers, owner of Owens River Ranch in Mammoth Lakes, said in a news release issued by the California Wild Heritage Campaign.

Trout Unlimited is a member of the California Wild Heritage Campaign, which is pushing for passage of the California Wild Heritage Act. The legislation would permanently protect more than 2.7 million acres of publicly held wilderness and more than 400 miles of rivers.

-- Pete Thomas