About the CWC

With towering redwood forests, pristine mountain peaks, and rugged desert landscapes, the wild lands of California encompass some of the most beautiful and diverse places on earth. These are refuges where eagles still soar across the horizon and salmon still swim from ocean to river—lands where nature thrives and the human spirit is free.
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Breaking News

WESTERN WILDERNESS CONFERENCE 2010

April 8th- 11th, 2010

Berkeley, California

www.westernwilderness.org

California Wilderness Coalition, Sierra Club, , and Northwest Wilderness and Parks Conference are the principal planning organizations, and also represented on the planning committee areThe Wilderness Society, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Desert Survivors, Audubon California, Tuleyome, and Californians for Western Wilderness.

Although the event will take place in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, wilderness organizations and advocates from all twelve western states, including Alaska, are involved, and wild lands advocates from all those states are enthusiastically invited to participate in this grand event.

 

Feinstein Introduces California Desert Land Protection Bill- 12/21/09

Bill would designate important wilderness in the California Desert and protect lands for recreation, wildlife and tourism

The California Wilderness Coalition along with community, business and conservation leaders from the California desert region are applauding a new proposal by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that would increase protection for 1.6 million acres of desert landscapes celebrated both for their contributions to America’s national heritage and to the local economy.

The proposed legislation, known as the California Desert Protection Act of 2010 S. 2921, will designate 394,807 acres of wilderness from the Avawatz Mountains near Death Valley to the largest Sonoran woodland in North America along the Colorado River. The legislation would also create two new national monuments—the Mojave Trails and the Sand to Snow—and expand Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve. It will also protect important waterways such as the Amargosa River and Deep Creek as Wild and Scenic Rivers.

“We applaud the leadership, foresight and vision that Senator Feinstein has shown in finding a common-sense way to protect our valuable desert wilderness for people and wildlife,” said Monica Argandoña, the San Bernardino County based Desert Program Director at The California Wilderness Coalition. She also noted that the proposal has strong local support from a diverse group of stakeholders throughout the desert region. “This proposal has truly been a local grassroots effort and has something for everyone.”

Read the rest of this article here and show your support for this important bill by writing a letter to Senator Feinstein

 

Issa Introduces Beauty Mountain and Agua Tibia Wilderness Bill - 12/16/09

On December 14, 2009 Representative Darrell Issa (Republican, Vista), who represents northern San Diego County, introduced the "Beauty Mountain and Agua Tibia Wilderness Act of 2009" (HR 4304). CWC and local residents strongly support this bill because it would protect two of southern California's most important areas of open space as wilderness.

The Beauty Mountain and Agua Tibia Wilderness Act of 2009 would add over 7,796 acres to the existing Agua Tibia Wilderness and would expand the Beauty Mountain Wilderness by an additional 13,635 acres. Representative Issa's bill would build on successful legislation sponsored earlier this year by Senator Barbara Boxer (Democrat, California) and Representative Mary Bono Mack (Republican, Palm Springs) whose "California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act" established the Beauty Mountain Wilderness and enlarged the Agua Tibia Wilderness that was established in 1975.

Click here for details about the bill and to write a letter thanking Darrell Issa

 

CWC Plans for Desert Wild Spaces    

      

TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA.:  Saving our wild lands was the theme.  The California Wilderness Coalition (CWC) held an important planning meeting at the 29 Palms Inn on  September 23 through September 27, 2009.  The board meeting and staff retreat dealt with legislation to protect California’s wild lands and building constituencies to protect those lands, particularly the California desert.  Artist Mary-Austin Klein of Twentynine Palms is the president of the CWC board.

                The deserts of California currently face challenges in dealing with an onrush of corporate efforts to use vast areas of open and untouched wild areas for solar power and wind power sites.  Alternative energy is an important national priority.  The CWC’s efforts focus on cooperative community planning for these sites so that they satisfy our nation’s needs for alternative energy without damaging our wildlife and scenic areas which are so important to our economic and environmental values.

                Curt Sauer, Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent, and Stephanie Weigel, Regional Land Use Planner with the Sonoran Institute, discussed local land use issues.  They emphasized the importance of maintaining wildlife links between Joshua Tree National Park and the Twentynine Palms Marine Base.

                Paul Smith of the 29 Palms Inn and the Innkeepers Association, shared his thoughts on the need to protect our wilderness tourism assets which attract over 1,200,000 visitors each year to Joshua Tree National Park and the surrounding desert wild areas.  These visitors are attracted by the untouched open spaces of the desert.  Their economic effect on tax revenues, property values, and local business income is substantial.

Check back here for developments in desert wilderness protection from the California Wilderness Coalition.

 

 

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