SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Three bills that would protect 1 million acres of public land in California get votes today in Congress. The House Committee on Natural Resources is expected to approve all three, setting them up for a full House vote.

Amanda Barragar from Trinity County, an environmental advocate with the group Safe Alternatives for our Forest Environment, said the Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation and Working Forests Act can help protect northern California from catastrophic wildfires.

"This bill promotes forest restoration and fuels reduction work," she said, "especially along roads, where most fires start, and near communities."

Another bill, the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act, would extend wilderness protections to almost 250,000 acres, create two scenic areas and designate 159 miles of Wild and Scenic rivers. The third bill primarily would expand San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in the foothills near Los Angeles.

Opponents say that new designations would be unnecessary impediments to commercial development.

Josh Andujo of the group Nature For All is a member of the Gabrielino Tongva Tribe, which supports extra protections for their ancestral homeland.

"Our territory stretched from Malibu into Newport Beach, the Channel Islands into San Bernardino," Andujo said. "For us, we still hold our ceremonies up there. My family holds a ceremony that goes back 250 years, with our water ceremony."

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Vitali Mostovoj said he's concerned about the high suicide rate among veterans and first responders. He said he thinks access to more pristine public lands can help them cope.

"Getting people out in nature is very important," he said. "Going just to a campground by itself is not enough; you need to be out in the open, where you're alone, to be with nature as a whole. That is why our wilderness areas are so important to preserve."

The bills have strong bipartisan support and haven't attracted any organized opposition, although they do have some detractors among lawmakers who believe the government should privatize more public land.

Details of the Central Coast bill are online here, the Northwest California bill is here, and the San Gabriel bill is here.

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Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


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Many across the state of Nevada will celebrate National Public Lands Day tomorrow.

Nevadans will be able to visit state parks for free on Saturday, to encourage people to explore all the recreation opportunities the state has to offer.

Andrew Sierra, political and organizing director for the Nevada Conservation League, said this year's focus is about the effects of climate change and equity. He added underserved and underinvested communities many times are not able to enjoy the outdoors, which is why, in the most recent legislative session, they supported efforts to fund the Outdoor Education and Recreation Program and bridge the equity gap.

"Not many people's families are too worried or concerned about taking a hike when they are more concerned about putting food on the table," Sierra acknowledged. "If we can help our schools, if we can help community groups through that -- and working alongside state agencies to be able to really get to the point of equity -- then we solve many problems."

Sierra added his group and other stakeholders will be at Craig Ranch Regional Park this Saturday starting at 9 a.m. He said organizers chose to hold the event there, as it is what he describes as an "important part of North Las Vegas," closer to BIPOC and front line communities disproportionately affected by climate change.

No matter where you may find yourself in the state, Sierra pointed out public lands play a significant role in what it means to be a Nevadan. He added it is why it is important to recognize both the conservation efforts and the clean energy transition taking place on Nevada's public lands.

"Clean energy -- be it public lands, be it conservation -- all these issues are interconnected in one way or another," Sierra stressed. "If it is public lands that interests you or if it's clean energy, I just urge folks to get involved and get informed, especially when it comes to clean energy. It's going to be an ever-evolving industry."

In the Department of Energy's latest energy and employment report, Nevada ranks fourth for the most new clean energy jobs in communities of color. Sierra noted his group would like to see more federal dollars invested in education and apprenticeship programs to keep the momentum going.

The wild burro population in northwest Arizona is about four times the appropriate management level, according to the Bureau of Land Management.

The agency is seeking public comment on a proposal which would decrease the number of wild burros in three herd management areas south of Kingman. There are about 2,300 burros in the area.

Philip Cooley - branch chief for biological resources with the BLM's Arizona office - said burro numbers have exceeded what the land is capable of supporting, which has consequences for wildlife habitat and local communities.

"The animals overuse the resources in their herd management area and then, as those resources start getting overused and they're competing for the resources, they start moving out into areas outside of the herd management area," said Cooley. "And this is when we can have concerns with the animals going onto private property and causing damage."

Cooley added that the proposal calls for using temporary fertility controls, sex-ratio adjustments and periodic removals of wild burros over a 10-year period.

Although some wild horse and burro advocates prefer other alternatives, Cooley added that it's important to make sure all uses on public lands in Arizona are taken into account.

The comment period closes October 11.

Cooley said because wild burros have very few natural predators and are protected from hunting, herds can quickly grow in size. He added that Arizona is one of several BLM states that has a wild horse and burro program, and says there are coordinated efforts among those states to - in his words - "leverage resources and manage things appropriately."

Cooley said when animals are removed from the range, they're put into the BLM's Adoption and Sales Program, to be placed in private homes off the range.

"We do the 'gathers' in combination with the fertility control," said Cooley. "It's not permanent sterilization, it is a temporary fertility control, that slows down how fast the animals repopulate. It delays getting huge overpopulations."

He added that the agency determines the numbers for each herd management area by analyzing the rangeland resources, as well as population data spanning several years.

Lawmakers in Washington held their first Senate hearing on the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act.

Authored by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., it would add 80,000 acres of new wilderness area in the state. The act would sustain economic development and recreational use of National Forest land in Montana's Bob Marshall, Mission Mountains and Scapegoat wilderness areas. Proponents say it would designate new areas for recreation, safeguard crucial tributaries of the Blackfoot and Clearwater rivers and protect public lands and other waterways.

Juanita Vero, a Missoula County commissioner and whose family has owned the E-Bar-L Dude Ranch outside Missoula for nearly a century, said the act protects the things that make Montana so environmentally special.

"Clean air. Clean water. Open space. Unfettered access. Public lands. Public waters," Vero outlined. "These are all the things Montana stands for, and we get to offer that."

While the bill enjoys strong support, critics contend it contains too many special-interest carve-outs by designating currently protected land as snowmobile and mountain-bike areas, for example, and opens roadless areas for logging companies to bulldoze and clear-cut.

A recent public lands survey found 84% of Montanans support the act, which has been in the works for years.

Todd Frank, owner of Missoula-based Trailhead River Sports, said adding tens of thousands of acres of recreational area is going to bolster Montana's already popular reputation as a mecca for outdoor activities. He added it would be good for business, too.

"I'm a merchant, and everybody that walks through my door is a potential customer," Frank explained. "I look at this thing and say this is a solution that answers every one of my customers' needs that walk through the door."

The Blackfoot Watershed is habitat for bears, moose, deer, elk and wolverines. The rivers and streams are home to world-class cutthroat and bull trout, synonymous with fishing in Montana.


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