Representative Lois Capps Introduces Legislation for the Carrizo Plain National Conservation Area

By Jan Bedrosian, Bureau of Land Management

In a bi-partisan, cooperative approach that is fast becoming the hallmark of “ California-style” conservation, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) and Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Bakersfield) have introduced legislation to designate the Carrizo Plain in San Luis Obispo County a National Conservation Area.

As part of that legislative effort, Rep. Capps, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) State Director Ed Hastey, and Steve McCormick, state director of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) toured the area April 9 with a number of cooperators and partners.

The legislation, HR 3604, introduced jointly by Rep. Capps and Rep. Thomas on March 31, 1998, would designate the 250,000-acre natural area as BLM’s ninth National Conservation Area in the U.S. The area is jointly managed by BLM, The Nature Conservancy, the Caliifornia Department of Fish and Game and other cooperators. The Congressionally legislated designation provides special protection for areas considered to have national ecological importance, while allowing for carefully managed public uses.

The Carrizo Plain contains the last remnants of the once vast San Joaquin Valley grasslands and is home to the largest concentration of federally listed plant and animal species in the continental U.S. These include the San Joaquin kit fox, the blunt-nosed leopard lizard, and the giant kangaroo rat. Numerous bird species, including peregrine falcons, also inhabit the area, along with several endangered plant species.

Rep. Lois Capps and BLM ecologist Russ Lewis examine wildflowers at the Carizzo Plain. Rep. Capps has introduced legislation to designate the Carrizo Plain as a National Conservation Area.

Hastey recapped the local grass-roots effort that has been underway for several decades to save the Carrizo, acknowledging the presence of 92-year-old Avis Goodwin, a local conservationist and TNC benefactor who has spent 40 years and contributed substantial personal funds to help acquire some of the first land for wildlife and public use. He also thanked Rep. Capps for introducing the bill, which he said“ is the culmination of all these public and private efforts.”

Rep. Capps, who was recently elected to succeed her late husband in the 22nd Congressional district, said she was “privileged” to carry this bill as her first piece of legislation in Congress and called it a “win-win” for everyone who has “worked so hard” on this effort. She said she was “particularly pleased” that this legislation calls for preservation and other responsible public uses.

Steve McCormick of TNC pointed out the “seamless management” at Carrizo, with all three landowners (BLM, TNC, CDFG) working together and ignoring artificial ownership boundaries. He also acknowledged the presence of Bill Meadows, president of the National Wilderness Society, who called Carrizo “a model that we would like to see spread throughout the country.”