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March 30,
2005
Los Padres Appears on
Top-Ten Threat List for Fourth Year in a Row
Report Blames
Oil Drilling and
Off-Highway Vehicle Abuse
Oakland, CA - A
new report, released today by the California Wilderness
Coalition, details the Golden State's ten most threatened wild
places. Based on surveys completed by conservation groups,
scientists, and other wildland experts, the report concluded
that the Los Padres National Forest remains one of the state's
most imperiled areas.
 Oil
drilling is cited by the report as the main threat to
the national forest. The Forest Service is currently finalizing
a plan open up to 140,000 acres for oil and gas development in
the national forest, including proposed wilderness areas, Native
American cultural sites, popular trails, and habitat for over
twenty sensitive plants and animals such as the endangered
California Condor.
"Tens of millions
of dollars have already been poured into condor recovery," says
the report, but "biologists are worried that the new oil and gas
leasing in one of its last best homes could continue to sabotage
the bird's recovery." Drilling in these areas would
provide at most a one-day supply of energy for the nation.
Also mentioned is
the Forest Service's failure to protect roadless and wild areas
from new road construction and off-highway vehicle use. The
agency is currently revising its management plan for the entire
forest, and is proposing to open up to 24 roadless areas to the
destructive impacts of OHV use.
These activities
threaten several outstanding values of the Los Padres, says the
report. The forest's outdoor recreation opportunities,
clean sources of drinking water, ecosystems, and "some of the
most extraordinary native rock art to be found anywhere in the
world" are all at risk.
The fourth in a
series of annual reports, the analysis considers the urgency and
impact of threats to these landscapes, like water diversions,
off-road vehicle use, logging, and oil drilling. Several places
included in this year's report were listed last year. The Los
Padres National Forest has appeared in every report since 2002.
Other areas that
made the top-ten threatened list include:
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California
Desert - Algodones Sand Dunes and White Mountains
(off-road vehicles), Mojave National Preserve (road
construction)
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Southern
California - Cleveland National Forest (proposed
freeways, dams, and power lines)
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Sierra
Nevada - Hoover Wilderness Additions (snowmobile
trespassing), Northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade
national forests (logging), Owens Valley Wildlands
(groundwater pumping)
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Northern California - Klamath River Basin (water
diversion), Salmon River Watershed (logging, mining, and
road building)
"California's wilderness and wild rivers provide more than
60 percent of the state's clean drinking water, and offer
recreation opportunities to millions," said Coalition
Executive Director Mary Wells. "But once they're gone,
they're gone forever."
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