Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Rep. Rick Boucher's (D-Va.) H.R. 1011 would create several new wilderness areas in Virginia's Jefferson National Forest as well as designate 11,000 acres as national scenic areas. The House approved the bill last fall.

The Seng Mountain and Bear Creek national scenic areas would protect recreational, historic and natural resources in Smyth County, while allowing limited motorized access, something prohibited in wilderness areas. The bill directs the Forest Service to develop trail plans in those areas, joining an extensive network of trails already there, including more than four miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

Virginia Sens. John Warner (R) and Jim Webb (D) have introduced a companion bill, S. 570, that will also be considered by the subcommittee. Both bills would designate 349 acres in the Kimberling Creek area as "potential wilderness."

Another proposal, S. 2581, would designate part of the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia as wilderness.

The House Natural Resources Committee approved a similar measure (H.R. 5151) this month. The bills would designate large portions of the forest as wilderness through expansions of the Dolly Sods, Cranberry and Otter Creek wilderness areas as well as protecting three new wilderness areas across the forest.

The subcommittee will also consider Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-Calif.) S. 2109, which would designate 190,000 acres of Southern California desert and forests as wilderness.

The bill would protect Interior Department and Forest Service land that is home to the threatened bighorn sheep, bald eagle, desert tortoise and other species by creating four new wilderness areas and adding to six existing areas. In addition, it would add about 5,000 acres to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument (Greenwire, Sept. 27, 2007).

Alaska wildlife, road bill

The subcommittee will take up S. 1680, from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), which would add more than 61,000 acres to two federal wildlife refuges in Alaska, in exchange for the right to build a road to connect a pair of remote villages.

As with Rep. Don Young's (R-Alaska) H.R. 2801, the bill would add 61,723 acres of wildlife habitat to the Izembek and nearby Alaska Peninsula refuges. Of that land, 45,493 acres would be designated as wilderness.

The land exchange would permit the transfer of 206 acres of land across the Izembek refuge to the state to construct a road connecting the remote villages of King Cove and Cold Bay.

While proponents of the bill claim the road is for the safety of both villages, critics say the road across the refuge would do irreparable harm to its landscape and native species.

Also on the docket are:

S. 758 and H.R. 1311 would both convey the Alta-Hualapai Site in Nevada to the city of Las Vegas for the development of a cancer treatment facility. The House cleared its version earlier this year.

S. 2124 would convey land in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest to Jefferson County, Mont., for use as a cemetery.

Schedule: The hearing is tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. in 366 Dirksen.

Witnesses: Joel Holtrop, deputy chief, National Forest System; James Murray, president, Virginia Wilderness Committee, Charlottesville, Va.; Stan Senner, executive director and vice president, Audubon Alaska; and Della Trumble, Agadaux Tribe, King Cove, Alaska.

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