The House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands held a hearing Tuesday, November 17, on Representative Sam Farr's (D-CA) Pinnacles National Park Act, which would add almost 3,000 acres of new wilderness within Pinnacles National Monument.
"We are very pleased that the subcommittee is considering the Pinnacles wilderness bill and congratulate Rep. Farr for his dedication and foresight in protecting more wild lands in central California," said Jim Mathews, Policy Specialist for the Campaign for America's Wilderness.
The legislation (H.R. 3444) will establish the Monument as a National Park and rename the Pinnacles Wilderness area as the Hain Wilderness after Schuyler Hain, an early homesteader whose efforts to protect the area led to the establishment by Theodore Roosevelt of Pinnacles National Monument in 1908.
"We hope the Natural Resources Committee will move expeditiously to approve this important public lands bill," Mathews said.
Protection for this area will preserve the chaparral, grasslands, blue oak woodlands, many unique flora and fauna, and the ancestral and cultural history of native Americans.
