[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 37 (Monday, April 11, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: April 11, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
CALIFORNIA DESERT PROTECTION ACT OF 1993
Motion to Proceed
The Senate continued with the consideration of the motion.
Privilege of the Floor
Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Ms. Susan
McGill, a congressional fellow from the National Park Service, who is
currently on the staff of the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, be accorded the privilege of the floor during the
consideration of S. 21, including any votes thereon.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. WALLOP. Will the Senator yield for a brief unanimous consent
request?
Mr. JOHNSTON. Of course.
Privilege of the Floor
Mr. WALLOP. I ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be
granted to the following members of our staff: Jim Beirne, Jim O'Toole,
Kelly Fischer, Jim Tate, Marian Marshall, Carol Craft, Gerry Hardy, and
Camille Heninger, during pendency of S. 21.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. WALLOP. I thank the Chair. I thank the Senator.
Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. President, S. 21 is one of the most significant
pieces of environmental legislation that will be considered by the 103d
Congress.
The California Desert contains some of America's most spectacular,
diverse, unique, and fragile landscapes which deserve the high level of
protection that the wilderness and park designations contained in S. 21
afford.
As reported from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, S. 21
would designate approximately 7.74 million acres of the Bureau of Land
Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service lands in the
California Desert as wilderness; it would add approximately 1.5 million
acres to the existing Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Monuments
and redesignate these areas as national parks; and it would establish a
1.2 million acre Mojave National Park.
At the same time, the bill would provide for continued use of the
area by the military, ensure that sufficient lands remain available for
off-road vehicle enthusiasts, sportsmen, miners, and others who want to
use the desert for a variety of purposes.
S. 21 was reported from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee
last fall by a bipartisan vote of 13 to 7. The bill has been before our
committee and the Senate since 1986, and a total of 10 hearings have
been held by the respective House and Senate subcommittees, both here
and in California. In the past, the committee was unable to report a
California Desert bill because the two Senators from California were
never able to reach a consensus. Now, after 8 years, the two Senators
from California have come together and are supporting a measure, this
measure, to designate wilderness and units of the national park system
in their State.
Mr. President, since I became chairman of the committee, I have done
my best to accommodate two Senators from a State when they have been
able to reach an agreement on a park or wilderness bill, especially
with regard to the designation of areas and boundaries. I think this is
generally a good rule to follow, and based on statements made in the
Chamber and in committee, I know that most of my colleagues also share
this view.
In this regard, Mr. President, I wish to commend the Senator from
California [Mrs. Feinstein] for her efforts in bringing this bill to
the floor today, for the tremendous amount of highly skilled work which
she has done in putting the provisions of this bill together and being
able to pass it successfully through our committee by, as I say, a vote
of 13 to 7. Since her election to the Senate, she has made this bill
one of her top priorities. She has worked tirelessly on this bill, and,
Mr. President, the results both of the structure of the bill and its
political success through the committee and in the Chamber are the
fruits of that very excellent and arduous work which she has put in on
this bill.
Prior to the committee's consideration of this bill, she developed a
comprehensive package of amendments which were, for the most part,
included in the committee reported bill. These amendments were in
addition to changes she has already made in S. 21 when compared with
earlier versions. All of these modifications were offered in an effort
to accommodate a variety of interests and deal with the issues in a
positive and responsive manner. It is my understanding that during the
course of debate on this bill, she will offer additional amendments to
address still more specific concerns that others have raised with the
bill.
Throughout this process, Senator Feinstein has listened to those who
have had problems with the bill and tried her best to solve them. To be
sure, not every amendment has been accommodated in every single
instance, in every single detail, but the California Desert bill that
we have before us today and that will be brought up for consideration
tomorrow is largely, as a result of her efforts, a reasonable and
balanced bill that protects key parts of the California Desert but
recognizes other legitimate interests.
Mr. President, the time has come to resolve this issue. The bill
before us today is supported by the two California Senators, the
administration, and millions of people in the State of California and
around the Nation.
I think this is a good bill. It is a controversial bill. But the
efforts of the Senator from California have gone a long way toward
dealing with much of that controversy. I think it is broadly supported.
This bill deserves to be passed, and along with it my commendations to
the Senator from California [Mrs. Feinstein].
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana yields the floor.
Who seeks recognition?
Mrs. FEINSTEIN addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from
California [Mrs. Feinstein].
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the Chair. I thank the Senator from Louisiana
for his comments and particularly to thank him and thank the committee
staff for all the work that has been done. This has not been an easy
bill. It has taken a long, long time and a great many people have
worked very hard, not the least of which is the young woman sitting on
my left, Kathy Lacey, who has been my major staff person on this bill
and was before.
Mr. President, I would like to dedicate my remarks today to a
wonderful Californian. His name is Frank Wells. He was the president of
the Disney Corp. He was killed last weekend in a helicopter crash, a
skiing trip on which, just at the last moment, my husband had decided
not to accompany him and therefore did not happen to board that
aircraft.
Mr. Wells was a great supporter of this desert bill. He was scheduled
to join me and visit the desert on December 18 but, unfortunately, that
trip had to be canceled because of weather and other things, and we
were not able to go. I know of his strong support, and so I would like
to dedicate these comments to him this afternoon.
Mr. President, many Americans think of desert, as in the Sahara,
hundreds of miles of bare sand, shifting dunes in the wind, barren
horizons, often a mirage with unrelenting heat and an absence of water
that makes it foreboding territory.
But the California Desert is different. Mountains, volcanoes,
streams, lakes, petroglyphs, sheep, deer, tortoise, and incredible
flowers, some of the most beautiful flowers, make 25 million acres of
California Desert really unprecedented anywhere in America.
I rise to support S. 21, the California Desert Protection Act. As the
chairman from Louisiana said, both Senator Boxer and I support this
legislation. And I am very pleased to say that as of today, we have 47
cosponsors of this legislation in this body.
Shortly after I was elected--and I had campaigned on passage of a
desert bill--Senator Cranston called and asked if I would take over
sponsorship of the desert bill, and I said ``I will take a look at it''
and, ``yes, I believe I will.'' I proceeded to take a look at it, find
out what the problems were, talk with people, and offer amendments to
that bill. I wanted to pass a desert bill that was tailored to fit the
needs of the people who live and work in the desert. I wanted to
protect existing jobs, so a bottom line became for me no jobs would be
lost; rather, jobs would be gained. I wanted to provide for the
interests and concerns of private property owners, and in fact no
private property will be taken by this bill.
Since introducing the desert bill more than a year ago, I have set
about to analyze all the issues involved in the legislation and to
really make great efforts to consult with local governmental officials,
law enforcement agencies, the military, mining companies, off-road
vehicle user groups, property owners, hunters, ranchers, and others
interested in this bill.
My staff and I have spent literally hundreds of hours meeting with
more than 60 different organizations and businesses in an effort to
resolve concerns about the desert bill. I sat down with my staff and
considered the requests for change. We went over it amendment by
amendment--maps, pictures, pro and con. As a result, the bill before
the Senate today is far different from earlier California Desert
protection legislation.
More than 50 amendments, as the chairman said, have been made. The
area included in the bill has been reduced by about 1 million acres.
The bill protects 6.37 million acres now managed by the Bureau of Land
Management.
In addition, the Death Valley National Monument is currently
2,067,793 acres. It has these lines around it. We would change it to a
national park, and we would add the surrounding area to that park for
good reasons.
The Joshua Tree Monument today is 559,959 acres, and this land, as
well as the area around it, would become a national park. The new
national park, and the centerpiece of the bill, albeit the most
controversial part of the bill, is the East Mojave.
I believe this is a balanced bill, a bill which will protect
important desert resources and at the same time allow existing
activities to continue and future needs to be met.
This bill has had many hearings. It had 2 days of hearings in 1987, a
hearing in 1989, 3 days in 1992, and 2 days in 1993. In 1991, a bill
passed the House, authored by Congressman Mel Levine. Congressman Rick
Lehman and cosponsor George Miller are prepared to move with similar
legislation in the House of Representatives.
This bill is supported by the Southern California Association of
Governments, known as SCAG, which includes Los Angeles, Riverside,
Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Imperial County. It is supported
by 16 boards of supervisors representing 16 counties, 36 city councils
representing 36 cities, including 8 of the largest cities in
California--San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and so on.
Five newspapers outside California, including USA Today, support this
legislation, and 15 California newspapers have endorsed this bill. It
is supported by 118 conservation groups, including the Sierra Club, the
Wilderness Society, the National Parks and Conservation Association,
the Garden Club of America, the National Audubon Society, Friends of
The Earth, the National Resources Defense Council [NRDC], and the Fund
for Animals.
In terms of public support, in my State this bill is supported
strongly. These are polls that go back to 1991, 1992, and 1993. They
are not my polls. They are California field polls, public interest
polls that have been done.
In 1992, it showed that park status for the East Mojave was supported
by 70 percent of the people, including people in that area.
In 1993 to test hunting--because it became known that there are some
that would want this reduced to a monument status so that hunting could
be allowed--a poll was done. And the finding was that 75 percent of
those Californians questioned supported creating the Mojave National
Park with no hunting; 75 percent by independent poll, a February 1993
field poll. So we believe there is a strong support.
What is everybody supporting, and why? The California Desert contains
some of the most incredible scenic, natural, cultural, historic,
archaeological, and recreational resources in the Nation. As I said, it
comprises 25 million total acres, and the desert is incredibly
diverse--sand dunes, extinct volcanoes, 90 mountain ranges, the world's
largest Joshua tree forest, over 100,000 archaeological sites. These
varied land forms provide habitats rich in biological diversity with
more than 760 different wildlife species.
There are many unexpected features in the desert such as waterfalls.
Here you have Darwin Falls in the Death Valley National Park, soon to
be a national park. You have seasonal lakes and wetlands; sunrise at
Saline Lake in the Death Valley National Park.
You have cinder cones and other volcanic features. This is a volcanic
wash in Death Valley National Park.
You have mountains over 8,000 feet in the desert. Here are the Inyo
Mountains in the Inyo Mountain Wilderness area. You have sand dunes
over 700 feet, taller than the Washington Monument. It is perhaps one
picture that does look like the Sahara Desert.
At this time of the year the desert is blanketed with the most
incredible profusion of wildflowers. I mean, it is truly amazing--the
colors of a sunset, the sky, the mountains. The flowers are not
replicated anywhere else on Earth.
Even at other times of the year, there is an abundance of flora and
fauna, such as the Barrel Cactus gardens. There is the Kingston Range
Wilderness Area; the desert willow from Eagle Mountain; the Joshua Tree
National Park; desert chicory from Death Valley National Park; catchfly
flowers. Look at that beautiful blossom.
The Golden Eagle frequents the California Desert. Bighorned sheep
frequent the California Desert. And the endangered Desert Tortoise has
a major habitat in the California Desert.
There are important cultural and scientific resources such as ancient
petroglyphs. These are petroglyphics in the rock done by ancient
Indians, some of which it is believed go back 100 million years. There
are historic homesteads.
This is Lanfair Valley, the Mojave National Park is here, and
dinosaur tracks. The last remaining dinosaur tracks in California are
preserved in a place called the Jurassic Sand Dune. It is approximately
180 million years old. It is actually right outside the boundaries of
the Mojave park. But we have language in the bill to protect this.
These tracks are from three species of bipedal, two-legged, dinosaurs
the size of ostrichs. They occur with tracks of quadrupedal, four-
legged, reptiles that may have been their prey. And efforts to manage
and preserve this unique relic is really done jointly by the mining
industry, the Bureau of Land Management, the San Bernadino California
Museum paleontologists.
The scientific and educational value of the desert is immense. I have
seen firsthand how inordinately fragile the California Desert is.
Unlike the Sahara, tracks from off-road vehicles in the desert do not
disappear. Year in, year out, if you take an off-road vehicle over
desert land, the tracks never go away. They remain for all time.
So our desert resources deserve protection as part of our National
Park System and National Wilderness System where they can be managed so
people can enjoy them without destroying them and protect them for our
children and our children's children.
The desert bill reported by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee before us today adds 6.37 million acres of the 25 million
acres of California Desert. It will create three new national parks--
Death Valley, Joshua Tree and Mojave. Specifically, it designates 3.7
million acres of land as BLM wilderness. This is one area, the Picacho
Peaks wilderness area. The bill adds 1.3 million acres to Death Valley
National Monument and redesignates the area a national park. It adds
234,000 acres to Joshua Tree National Monument and redesignates the
area as a national park. And it establishes a 1.2 million-acre Mojave
National Park. It designates national park wilderness for Death Valley,
Joshua Tree, and the Mojave.
These are some of the incredible pictures. This one is looking toward
Clark Mountain in the Mojave National Park. This is Castle Peak, again,
in the East Mojave National Park. Look at that peak; it is incredible.
This one is the Panamint Dunes and Telescope Peak in Death Valley
National Park. This is Last Chance Canyon. This is part of 20,500 acres
of BLM land which will be transferred to the State of California for
the addition of Red Rock Canyon State Park.
The bill would designate a 2,040-acre desert lily sanctuary. As you
can see, that very fragile desert flower is blooming in the middle of
the sand with the mountains behind it.
The proposed Mojave National Park has been called the centerpiece of
the Desert Protection Act, and it has been the center of controversy.
This area contains mountain ranges, as you can see. Look at that
mountain range--dry lakes, cinder cones, badlands, innumerable washes,
mesas, buttes, lava beds, caves. It is one of California's most complex
sand dune systems and has a number of alluvial fans. Because it is at
the junction of three major desert ecosystems--the Sonoran, Mojave, and
the Great Basin--its biological resources are extremely varied.
(Mrs. MURRAY assumed the chair.)
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. As far back as 1979, the Bureau of Land Management
staff report found:
In all the California Desert, there is no finer grouping of
different wildlife habitats. Many observers feel that the
East Mojave embodies the finest scenery in the California
Desert.
In 1987, an evaluation by the Western Regional Office of the National
Park Service concluded that the East Mojave meets all criteria for
inclusion in the National Park System. It has, one, national
significance; two, suitability and feasibility; and, three, management.
The Park Service found that the Mojave ``contains a rich array of
highly significant natural and cultural resources. It would be
difficult to find an area of similar size with so many outstanding
sites.''
The Park Service concluded that the ``overall quality of the area and
the multiple resource attractions are sufficient to meet the
significant standards for new units.'' It recommended that the East
Mojave be added to the National Park System.
The National Park Service and the Department of the Interior
wholeheartedly support the establishment of the Mojave National Park as
part of the Desert Protection Act.
Roger Kennedy, Director of the National Park Service, has said:
This remarkable place is of unquestionable significance--
biologically, culturally, recreationally, scenically, and
scientifically. National park designation would preserve the
resources of the Mojave as no other protective public land
status can.
The Mojave National Park unquestionably merits national
park status. The proposed area is a combination of haunting
and harsh beauty that compares favorably in drama,
distinction, and character to any great area of the National
Park System. It contains a nationally significant diversity
of biological, geological, and ecological resources,
including California's most complex dune system, lava beds,
mountain ranges, playas, and areas that range in elevation
from 2,000 to 7,000 feet in a relatively compact area. The
resources of the proposed Mojave National Park meet the high
standards required for a national park.
So we have everybody, past and present, from the National Park
Service supporting this bill. The California Desert Protection Act
protects these nationally significant resources. It also recognizes
other important uses of the desert lands.
The bill provides reasonable vehicle access to wilderness areas. More
than 33,000 miles of roads and primitive routes are unaffected by the
bill, including more than 18,000 miles of primitive, unmaintained dirt
routes. This bill permits all active mines to continue. It protects
valid mining claims. It allows livestock grazing to continue in
wilderness areas. I will later introduce an amendment to allow it to
continue in perpetuity in the parks subject to park regulation. I am
convinced, based on my own eyes' observation, that this can be
accomplished. It maintains hunting opportunities on approximately 10
million acres of public land. It provides for land exchanges for the
Federal Government to acquire 250,000 acres of land owned by the State
of California. It recognizes the importance of military testing,
training and research activities conducted in the California Desert. It
allows for continued military use of several existing bases, and it
does not restrict or preclude low-level overflights of military
aircraft.
When legislation was discussed by the Senate committee, I proposed
more than 50 amendments to allow existing activities to continue and to
meet future needs. Since the bill was originally introduced, as I said,
more than 1 million acres have been dropped from the park and
wilderness designations, making these lands available for a variety of
uses.
The amendments already incorporated into this bill include 13
amendments to provide for off-road vehicle access in 14 wilderness
areas and to remove the entire 61,630-acre South Algodones Dunes from
the bill to allow for vehicle use; 11 amendments to modify the
boundaries of the parks and wilderness areas to eliminate potential
mining conflicts and areas of high mineral potential, which will
protect jobs; 15 amendments to remove communication sites, power lines,
and other utilities from the parks and wilderness areas and ensure
their continued use; six amendments to ensure the ability of the
military to conduct and expand its use of lands in the California
Desert; and two amendments to provide for continued use of existing
road maintenance sites used by the California Department of
Transportation; bill language clarifying State jurisdiction over fish
and wildlife activities to maintain and support fish and wildlife
populations and their habitats; bill language has been added clarifying
that ongoing law enforcement will be maintained in wilderness areas
along the United States-Mexico border; bill language has been added
clarifying that there is no effect on the operation of dams on the
Colorado River or on any compacts relating to waters of the Colorado
River; 14 amendments have been made to improve manageability of
wilderness areas, delete private property, and correct mapping errors;
and bill language has been added to protect the only known dinosaur
tracks in California, or in America.
As a result of all the changes, organizations that had previously
opposed desert legislation have withdrawn their opposition. This
includes the American Motorcycle Association, U.S. Borax, Viceroy Gold
Corp., Unical, and the North American Chemical Co., among others.
There is one amendment narrowly adopted by the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee which I do not support. This is the Lanfair
Valley amendment. The committee excluded 276,000 acres.
Let me just point out a little bit about how the land is concentrated
in Lanfair Valley. There is a concentration of private inholdings in
Lanfair Valley. Let me point out for the Record what the land
distribution is in Lanfair Valley. Federal land in Lanfair Valley in
the East Mojave, this whole square, has been exempted. Seventy-four
percent of this land is already public land. Most of it is owned by the
Bureau of Land Management, specifically 203,000 acres. Catellas owns
about 10 percent, 26,000 acres. Private owners own 14 percent, or
40,000 acres. And the State owns 2 percent or 7,000 acres. That totals
276,000 acres.
Now, let me tell you about the private land. My staff in California
went to the San Bernardino County Assessor's Office and obtained
information on every single parcel of property in the Lanfair Valley.
According to the San Bernardino County Assessor's reference books,
there are less than 20 structures on the private lands in Lanfair
Valley. Property taxes are currently being paid on only 10 single
family residences, 3 mobile homes, and 5 miscellaneous structure-like
cabins in that private ownership in Lanfair.
Some of the property owners in Lanfair Valley want to have their
lands included in the Mojave National Park. Mr. Gary Overson, a
rancher, writes me:
I own the Kessler Springs and O.X. Ranch, which consists of
my deeded land, approximately 4700 acres, railroad and State
leases and BLM land. Lanfair Valley lies in the heart of the
O.X. Ranch * * * From my point of view Lanfair Valley should
be included in the proposed park.
Another property owner, Mrs. Ruey Guirado writes me:
I own 160 acres of undeveloped land in the Lanfair Valley,
and I am writing to you to express my approval of the
proposed Mojave National Park. I will be pleased to have my
property included in the new park, as Park Service
stewardship of the land will be a great improvement over
existing Bureau of Land Management control.
The amendment excluded much more than the private land because 74
percent of the land is already owned by the Federal Government and
there is an acquisition program already approved going on to acquire
more.
By removing these lands, the amendment excluded some of the most
significant scenic, cultural, and biological resources. Effectively
this cuts the heart out of the East Mojave Park. Let me show you what
it excludes.
Lanfair Valley contains cactus gardens, desert grasslands, great
basin sage habitat, coastal chaparral, pinion and juniper forests,
relic firs, a perennial stream, the historic Mojave Trail, Rebirth
Rock, U.S. cavalry posts, Native American petroglyphs; Caruthers
Canyon, wilderness areas, campgrounds, and habitat for bighorn sheep,
desert tortoise, and deer.
Let me describe a few key areas and illustrate them with pictures.
Caruthers Canyon here is one of the most scenic areas in the Mojave.
Situated on the southern face of the New York Mountains, Caruthers
Canyon was one of the highest priorities for land acquisition by the
Bureau of Land Management and was just recently acquired. Now it will
be taken out.
The New York Mountains are home to a rich diversity of unusual desert
flora, including species normally associated with the coast such as
canyon oaks, manzanita and silk tassel. Nearly 300 plant species are
found in Caruthers Canyon and Keystone Canyons alone. This scenic
mountain range also provides habitat for muledeer, bighorn sheep, and
other wildlife. Because of its spectacular scenery and its isolation,
Caruthers Canyon is a popular destination for hikers and campers.
Let us talk for a minute about Rock Springs. Rock Springs is at the
transition of the Great Mojave sage and Joshua-tree forests. There is a
historic water source here used by native Americans and early explorers
and today helping sustain desert wildlife. There are also petroglyphs
here, as well as the remains of an 1850's Army camp and rock corrals.
Woods Wash. Woods Wash is a famous site in the heart of the Woods
Mountains with petroglyphs of strikingly dense and elaborate patterns.
The petroglyphs are more than 1,000 years old. We do not know much
about the Indians who did them, but archeologists believe this was a
religious site. The art is linked with our most distant past. This area
was purchased by the Bureau of Land Management in 1992.
Table Mountain, a high flat-topped mesa, with pinion forests on top,
is an unusual landform in California. Situated in the center of the
proposed park, the mountain anchors the East Mojave. It is the dominant
feature of the Mojave landscape and can be seen from 40 miles away.
Located at the mouth of the Piute Gorge are the remains of Fort
Piute, a U.S. Army fort built in 1859. This outpost was built to
protect the wagon trains on the government road from Prescott, AZ, into
California. Some of the rocks used to construct the fort are covered
with Native American petroglyphs and hundreds of petroglyphs can be
seen along a 2-mile stretch of the historic Old Mojave Road leaving the
fort. Henry Robert served as the commanding officer at Fort Piute, and
when he retired, guess what he wrote: Roberts Rules of Order.
Rebirth Rock is a significant archeological and Chemehuevi Indian
ceremonial site. It is believed to have inspired a Native American
legend on the origin of man. The large volcanic rock has a natural hole
and is surrounded by petroglyphs and pictographs on the perimeter. It
is hard to see on the photograph here, but they are there.
The Lanfair Valley exclusion goes far beyond that which is necessary
to exclude the private land. It affects the National Park Service
ability to properly manage and protect the entire bioregional resource.
As the superintendent of Joshua Tree National Monument has pointed out:
The loss of areas such as Caruthers Canyon in the New York
mountains, the Mid Hills of the Providence Mountains, and
many significant areas of the Piute Mountains represent
severe blows to the biological integrity of the new park. If
the intent is to remove significant private lands, many of
the areas within this large tract do not deserve to be
eliminated. In fact, their loss would cut deeply into the
resources that will be important in the future for
meaningful management of the natural systems. A more
careful approach to delineating the area for removal must
include a review of the resources before final
designation.
At the appropriate time, I will offer an amendment to restore at
least the Federal lands in Lanfair Valley to Mojave National Park.
Now let me speak for a moment about the cost of the bill.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that enactment of the
bill will result in additional administrative and construction costs to
the Federal Government totaling $36 million over the next 5 years. This
averages $7 million annually.
Additional funding is going to be required to provide adequate
protection for the Federal lands in the California Desert--protection
which they merit and deserve, protection which Californians want.
Moreover, the existing Bureau of Land Management plan for the
California Desert identifies additional management needs.
The establishment of the Mojave National Park, additions to Death
Valley and Joshua Tree, and designation of BLM wilderness provide an
opportunity to manage the California Desert as an ecosystem and
maximize cooperative management of these areas while keeping cost to a
minimum. The National Park Service and BLM have already completed a
study that identifies strategies for minimizing the expense of managing
the lands added to the National Park System. These strategies include
using existing resources and sharing BLM facilities and personnel
during a transition period of 1 to 2 years, whereby we could keep costs
down to next to nothing.
Now, let me speak for a moment of the economic benefits of creating
national parks.
Virtually every national park established in the United States has
been shown to increase tourism and raise the visibility of the natural
attractions there. The three national parks created by this bill will
have economic benefits as well.
According to the National Park Service, in 1992, Death Valley and
Joshua Tree provided $115 million in sales to the area, $11 million in
tax revenues, and 2,000 jobs in the regions. The Park Service projects
the new Mojave National Park will result in sales from $59 to $99
million--and I think you would have to take the $55 million based on
these numbers--and tax revenues from tourist expenditures of $2.7
million to $16.5 million and create from 1,100 to 2,000 new jobs.
Madam President, I am also pleased to state that there is a Portland,
OR, newspaper up your way that has also come out today in support of
this legislation.
I have visited the California Desert many times, beginning in the
1960's, where I spent weekends in parts of this desert. It is an
unparalleled and fragile piece of Americana, so fragile that it can
easily be destroyed.
This bill seeks to protect that in a prudent way without taking
anyone's public property. It enables an individual, if you have a
residential piece of property in this area, to develop it, subject to
its appropriateness as part of a national park, which means you can
build a home; and if you have a home, you can add an extension to it.
Obviously, you cannot build a 30-story highrise in the middle of a
desert, but I think that is understandable.
It protects every known active mine, every valid existing mining
claim.
We have made a dozen amendments to add for more use of off-road
vehicle users. We have tried very hard to satisfy the concerns of
people who live in the desert without hurting the environmental impact
of this legislation.
I believe it is good legislation. I believe its time has come.
I will make additional amendments to the bill at the appropriate time
tomorrow.
I thank you, Madam President.
I yield the floor.
Mr. WALLOP addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
Mr. WALLOP. Madam President, again, I say to the Senator from
California, I have no quarrel with the idea of protecting the desert. I
happen to believe that it can and ought to be protected in another way,
because the Desert Protection Act ought not to be the National Park
Assassination Act.
The figures which the Senator cited of the cost of management and
other things are low, but they come from a budget that is already under
severe distress and cannot manage but what it has. The figures that she
cited for the creation of jobs did not happen at Redwoods, by any
stretch of the imagination. In fact, the area suffered from having it
designated there.
So this is not a question about whether or not we ought to protect
the desert. This is a question as to how do we hold onto the fabric of
the National Park Service, which serves all Americans in every State
and in the territories as well.
You cannot continue to heap burdens on this camel's back called the
National Park Service and expect it to continue to provide quality
maintenance and protection of these areas.
Part of the problem is going to be that as you take what will
ultimately be 12 million acres between wilderness areas, national
parks, and tortoise habitat--I am informed that it is 8 million acres
of park and wilderness and 3 million acres of tortoise and native
habitat. That is 11 million acres. There will be fewer than 2 million
acres left for the normal pursuits of Americans.
Where that comes into environmental irresponsibility is that nobody
will have done anything about diminishing the public's desire to see
and recreate and participate in the desert. So all of a sudden, what
you have is the same number of people who now use the desert collapsed
into a little over 1.5 million to 2 million acres. You will see
degradation of that desert necessarily. It cannot be. Otherwise, we
will have that which is not designated park and wilderness denied to
Americans because they are abusing it or hurting it otherwise.
So there is a way to protect this and there is a way to save the
National Park Service System. And, Madam President, it behooves
Congress to pay close mind to both of those. The only way to protect
the world is not to create national parks.
If you want to see real degradation in rangeland, go to Yellowstone
National Park. It is not the fault of the Park Service. It is part of
the management programs that have been thrust upon it that do not allow
it to control elk and buffalo and other kinds of things. But there, the
ranges are being destructed.
If you want to see degradation of habitat and resources, take a look
at what wild burros are doing in the Grand Canyon. The only way to
provide protection is not by national park status.
This thing, this wonderful area--and I have no quarrel with the
Senator's characterization of it--this wonderful area can be protected,
ought to be protected; but so too should the National Park Service
systems.
Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The absence of a quorum has been suggested.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. HELMS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. HELMS. Madam President, inasmuch as neither side anticipates a
speaker any time in the next several minutes, I ask it be in order that
I proceed as if in morning business with the understanding that when a
speaker on the pending business arrives, I will suspend and resume
after he or she has finished.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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