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Andrew Molera State Park Wilderness Bill Update

   

April 16, 2010

Another local firefighter speaks out in support of Molera Wilderness.

Scott Bogen letter to The Carmel Pine Cone

April 12, 2010
The links below are to Molera Wilderness support letters from two professional firefighters highly experienced in fighting wildfires in the Ventana region.  Steve Benoit is a retired Cal Fire Captain who served in Monterey County for 33 years and has fought wildfires in Molera State Park and adjacent Ventana Wilderness.  Mike Boone is a retired Forest Service Engine Captain and Division Chief whose 31 year career included 19 years fighting wildfires on the Monterey Ranger District.  If you have doubts as to the fire prudence of the proposed Molera Wilderness, please read these two letters from highly experienced wildfire professionals.

Steve Benoit letter to Assemblymember Monning

Mike Boone letter to Assemblymember Monning

April 6, 2010
Assemblymember Bill Monning announced today that he is not proceeding with the Molera Wilderness legislation (AB 2074) this year.  The Assemblymember identified local community concerns regarding wildfire protection that need to be more fully vetted before further action is taken on the legislation.  See the link below to view Assemblymember Monning’s complete letter.

The Molera Wilderness proposal will not impede full use of the existing Big Box fireline or the secondary fireline on Molera Ridge.  Wildfire professionals participated in the mapping of this proposal.  Other highly qualified wildfire professionals have endorsed this wilderness designation and have confirmed that it will not increase wildfire risk to the local community.
Our challenge now is to demonstrate to Assemblymember Monning that the majority of Californians in his district, and throughout the central coast, support permanent wilderness preservation of the wild backcountry of Andrew Molera State Park.  If you have not yet voiced your support to the Assemblymember please do so now using the email link or snail mail address below.

View Assemblymember Monning Letter


March 30, 2010
Recent input from local residents identified a concern regarding maintenance of the Big Box Fire Line on National Forest land adjacent to the proposed Molera Wilderness.  To insure that there would not be any fire line management conflict between the State Park and the National Forest, a small adjustment to the wilderness boundary was proposed.
Click on the link below to see this adjustment and the position of the Big Box Fire Line relative to the proposed Molera Wilderness. The second link offers another perspective of the Molera Wilderness proposal. 

View revised map of proposed Wilderness Area with adjacent Big Box Fire Line

View Xasauan Today’s Look at the Uplands of the Proposed Molera Wilderness

 

Assemblymember Bill Monning has introduced legislation (AB 2074) that would designate as state wilderness 920 acres in the north easterly corner of Andrew Molera State Park. This is the area from the top of the coast ridge down to the S. Fork of the Little Sur River and adjacent to the federal Ventana Wilderness Area. The proposed wilderness boundaries are held back from adjacent private properties and from the old ridge top road, which has been used as a firebreak.

The proposed wilderness features spectacular views of the canyon of the Little Sur River and Pico Blanco. Vegetation ranges from open grasslands, chaparral, and oak woodland to ancient redwood forest. If you have ever hiked the East Molera Trail to the top of the coast ridge and gazed across the canyon of the South Fork to the spectacular crystalline marble summit of Pico Blanco, you know how special these wild lands are.

This area is the wildest part of spectacular Andrew Molera State Park and is wilderness in every sense of the word, except for the official protective designation. If you love the wild lands of this area and want them to remain wild, please send a letter or email to Assemblymember Monning and ask him to protect the Andrew Molera State Park Wilderness. Tell him about your wild land experiences there and why you believe this land should be preserved as wilderness.

William W. Monning
Assemblymember, 27th District
PO Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0027

Email Bill Monning: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

View map of proposed Wilderness Area

Aerial View of proposed Wilderness Area

Read the bill as proposed on 2/18/10

 

Youth In Wilderness

The Ventana Wilderness Alliance has launched a Youth in Wilderness program (YIW) to foster conservation values in younger members of the local community, to encourage these burgeoning conservationists to someday take the lead in furthering our mission to protect wilderness, watersheds, wildlife habitats and biodiversity.  Special efforts are being made to serve youth from disadvantaged backgrounds that might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience wilderness firsthand and to provide them with an opportunity to serve their community through the maintenance and restoration of hiking trails and other wild land stewardship projects.

This program was generously funded by the Community Foundation for Santa Cruz County and by the Fernandez Pave the Way Foundation.  With this funding and continuing donations, it is our intent to offer these wilderness trips at no cost, or at a nominal cost, to youth organizations in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties. We have the tools, camping gear and expertise to outfit a crew of up to 15 students and supervisors on weekend backpacking trips designed to restore and maintain trails and other resources destroyed by human use, erosion and fire. In addition to experiencing the beauty of the Ventana Wilderness with community members that have extensive experience here, this program offers youth a chance to work in the outdoors on productive, meaningful service.

During our first season(2009-2010), we led 4 trips for 38 students from 3 institutions, spending 11 days in the Ventana Wilderness.

YIW collaborated with staff, students and members of California State University, Monterey Bay, University of California Santa Cruz Recreation Department, the Salinas Community School, the Ventana Wildlife Society, and the CSUMB Outdoor Adventure Club

We spent over 100 person-hours working on sections of the Pine Ridge, Bear Basin, Marble Peak and Horse Pasture trails. We are scheduling trips for the 2010-2011 school year, and arevery excited about the possibilities!

If you have a youth group and would like to get involved in this exciting opportunity,

please contact the YIW Director, Greg Meyer at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or YIW Program Assistant, Morgan Harris at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

2010 Youth in Wilderness Outings:

April 24-25 CSUMB and UCSC
May 1-2 Salinas Community School
May 15-16 CSUMB
June 5-6 Salinas Community School