Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Congresswoman Mary Bono (CA-45), introduced the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act, legislation to protect nearly 200,000 acres of pristine and ecologically sensitive lands in Riverside County.

Boxer said, “Riverside County contains some of California’s most spectacular desert and mountain vistas and landscapes. This legislation will protect almost 200,000 acres of ecologically important public lands and help preserve them for future generations. I am pleased that Congresswoman Mary Bono and I have agreed to protect these special places in California’s great desert.”

Bono said, “It is important that we work together on the local and federal level to protect some of the unique and environmentally sensitive areas within Riverside County. The mountains and desert landscape brought so many people to this region years ago and will continue to bring people to Southern California to reside, visit, and enjoy. I'm happy to work with Senator Barbara Boxer to help preserve our local treasures for future generations to experience in all their splendor."

Specifically, the bill would protect 150,531 acres of lands as “wilderness”—the highest level of protection and conservation for federal public lands in American law, including nearly 40,000 acres in Joshua Tree National Park. Another 41,100 acres of the Park would be designated as “potential wilderness” until final property claims are settled by the National Park Service. Once settled, these lands would become “wilderness” without the necessity of an additional act of Congress. In the interim, they would be managed by the Park Service as “wilderness.”

The lands protected in this bill provide habitat for the threatened bighorn sheep, desert tortoise, and bald eagle, as well as many other species such as mule deer and mountain quail. The bill also designates 31 miles of four California Rivers as “wild and scenic”: the North Fork San Jacinto River, Fuller Mill Creek, Palm Canyon Creek, and Bautista Creek.

The California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act enjoys broad, local support from Riverside County supervisors, municipalities, chambers of commerce, environmentalists, sportsmen, and businesses. The wilderness boundaries were drawn in consultation with local communities and tribes. The bill also includes important provisions clarifying that federal agencies could use all the tools necessary to prevent and fight wildfires.


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