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Inyo County locals react to wilderness bill passage

Posted by: Maven on March 31, 2009 at 9:54 am

From the Inyo Register:

Eastern Sierra residents on both sides of the issue are speaking out about the controversial Eastern Sierra Wild Heritage Act now that the House and Senate have approved the bill and sent it on its way to President Barack Obama for a final seal of approval.

Throughout its many revisions, residents here in the Sierra have had diverse opinions on the merits and flaws in the bill, as have state and federal leaders.

It’s easy to be city-folk and applaud the passage of distant, remote lands becoming protected, but this article from the newspaper serving the small communities of the Eastern Sierra covers the opinions of those who will be most affected by it. While some, such as the CEO of Mammoth Mountain and Tim Alpers, applauded the passage, others had a different opinion:

Many in Inyo County, however, have denounced the bill on the grounds that much of the local land included in the legislation does not meet the mandates set forth in the 1964 Wilderness Act for wild land.

The Inyo County Board of Supervisors, the non-profit group Advocates for Access to Public Lands (AAPL) and hundreds of residents have openly expressed opposition to the bill. Some opponents have said the wilderness designation would push mining and prospecting out of the community, others have claimed that Inyo’s economic life-source lies in recreation and motorized travel that will be outlawed with the wilderness and still more say that California has more than enough protected land with 14 million acres of wilderness, second only to Alaska.

In addition to the Board of Supervisors and AAPL, the Eastern Sierra Four-Wheel Drive Club, the Blue Ribbon Coalition, The California Association of Four-Wheel Drive Clubs and Eastern Sierra Quail Unlimited have been vocal in their opposition of the bill.

More local reaction from the Inyo Register by clicking here.

March 31, 2009 · Filed Under Water Quality

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