Senate Votes for California Desert Protection Act

[Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>]

Senate Votes to Protect Fragile California Desert
4/13/94

         WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Senate voted Wednesday to protect
more of the pristine and fragile desert of southeastern
California, establishing a new 1.5 million acre Mojave National
Park and increasing two other parks in size.
         On a decisive 69-29 vote the Senate sent the House of
Representatives the California Desert Protection Act, which also
expands Death Valley National Monument from 2 million to 3.3
million acres and Joshua Tree National Monument from 550,000 to
784,000 acres. The two are also redesignated as parks.
         ``This is a promise made and a promise kept,'' said a
triumphant Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who ran for her
job in California in part on the promise of establishing the
park.
         Since 1986 environmentalists have been campaigning for the
bill, which protects such treasures as Jurassic Hill, containing
the last remaining dinosaur tracks in North America.
         The House passed a similar bill in 1991 but then ran into
trouble in the Senate, in large part because of the opposition
of former California Republican Senators Pete Wilson -- now
California's governor -- and John Seymour.
         Natural Resources Committee Chairman George Miller, a
California Democrat, said at a news conference with Feinstein:
''This clearly becomes the highest priority in our committee.''
         The area that will be protected includes some of the
country's largest sand dunes, 90 mountain ranges, the world's
largest Joshua tree forest and more than 100,000 archeological
sites, Feinstein said. The bill would mean that 9 million of the
25 million acres of California desert would be protected.
         Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, appearing at the news
conference, promised if the bill passes and the land becomes
national park, ``We'll take good care of it.''