Big Sur Forest Service Management Unit Act

NEWS RELEASE: WILD AND SCENIC RIVER LEGISLATION
INTRODUCED 11-6-09

Congressman Sam Farr (California 17th District) today introduced critical legislation to assure the protection of biological and recreational resources on federal lands in the Ventana Region and Big Sur Coast. The Big Sur Forest Service Management Unit Act (HR 4040) would implement multiple measures to protect public lands in the northern Santa Lucia Mountains, including:

o Designation of over 90 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers including portions of the Arroyo Seco, San Antonio and Carmel Rivers, as well as Big Creek;

o The designation of the Horse Canyon and Horse Pasture additions to the Ventana Wilderness Area, along with several technical boundary adjustments resulting in a net increase of approximately 2,000 acres of federally designated Wilderness;

o Establishment of the Big Sur Management Unit (BSMU), which would replace the Monterey Ranger District and provide greater management and budgetary autonomy necessary to address concerns unique to the disjunct northern unit of Los Padres National Forest;

o Conversion of the closed Arroyo Seco – Indians Road to the Arroyo Seco – Indians National Recreational Trail, a public thoroughfare offering unparalleled opportunities for hiking, equestrian use, bicycling and other forms of non- motorized recreation;

o Establishment of the Jeff Norman Botanical Area, a plant community rich in endemic maritime chaparral on National Forest lands immediately south of Pfeiffer Beach;

o Designation of the BSMU as a Wildland Urban Interface Special Study Area with the requirement that a Fire Management Plan be created within one year, in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.

For maps, text of the bill, and additional information, see this link:

Sam Farr