Veterans Join Forces Memorial Day To Protect California Desert Lands
Friday, May 28, 2010
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - As we celebrate Memorial Day, California veterans are joining forces to protect desert lands. They say the wild desert provides a sense of tranquility, much needed after the physical and mental stresses of war.
David Raley, a retired Air Force colonel who spent 26 years in the military, is joining other vets to call on Congress to support Sen. Dianne Feinstein's California Desert Protection Act of 2010.
"Veterans, by their very nature, lean more to being outdoors-people. So, they want to have the opportunity to hunt and fish and off-road and enjoy the wilderness and I'd like to make sure that the veterans that follow me have that opportunity."
Ray Quinto spent 36 years in the military, including fighting in the Vietnam war. He says the Southern California desert covered under the bill is already being squeezed by two large metropolitan areas: Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
"Although I agree that we have to have progress, I think that we ought to preserve pristine areas, which is what the bill provides for."
Sen. Feinstein's proposed legislation would preserve nearly 1.5 million acres of Southern California Desert, create two new national monuments and expand Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve. The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Some lawmakers have questioned a part of the bill that deals with the placement of renewable energy plants on public lands. Sen. Feinstein says her bill provides a careful balance between conserving the desert and creating renewable energy development.
More information is available at www.californiadesert.org.
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