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Organization: Community Hiking Club
Date: September 5, 2008
Santa Clarita Wilderness Advocates Head to Washington D.C.
This weekend Ian Swift, Superintendent of Placerita Nature Center, and Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel from the Community Hiking Club, both wilderness advocates from Santa Clarita, will head to Washington, D.C. to attend Wilderness Week. Wilderness Week is a four day gathering of wilderness supporters from around the country aimed at raising awareness of the nation’s public wild lands and the need to protect them for future generations to use and enjoy.
"We are going to show our support of The Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage and Economic Act," said Swift. "Congress still has time to protect some of our nation’s best wild public lands before this session is over and we are here to remind them that it is important to their constituents."
The Wilderness Week gathering brings together people from all walks of life, including teachers, local business people, sportsmen, and conservationists who share the goal of supporting wilderness protection. The event provides training, a chance to get to know fellow wilderness advocates from across the country and the opportunity to visit congressional representatives and staff to make the case for protecting some of America ’s last and best wild places.
Congress has before it more than a dozen viable wilderness bills, which together would protect nearly two million acres of special wild lands. The National Wilderness Preservation System has protected 107 million acres since it was enacted in 1964, but this represents less than five percent of the nation’s land mass. When we continue to lose 6,000 acres of open space per day to development, more needs to be done.
Seven wilderness measures are now included in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, a large public lands package pending in the Senate. This legislation would protect land across Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Virginia and West Virginia. Wilderness Week attendees will be urging Congress to pass this bill and to consider other worthy wilderness bills this year, including several bills from California.
"Even though Congress has much on its plate and time is running out, passing wilderness proposals should be a high priority. A lot of hard work has been put into The Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage and Economic Act, and although we are in the thick of election season, we hope that this legislation does not get lost in the hustle and bustle. This event provides a great platform to rally wilderness support and drum up the beat in Washington ," said Erskine-Hellrigel.
