The proposed Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument took another big step forward today, when the State Senate approved Assembly Joint Resolution 4, urging President Obama to use his powers under the Antiquities Act to designate 360,000 acres of federal public lands in the region. This follows similar action on the from the Assembly last month, and puts the State of California on record in support of this action. Many thanks to Assemblyman Bill Dodd for authoring this measure, and to Senators Lois Wolk and Mike McGuire and Assemblymen Jim Wood and Marc Levine for co-sponsoring it: Redwood Chapter representatives every one of them!
This action comes right after the appearance of a great Sacramento Bee article by Paul McHugh over the weekend, describing a more-than-strenuous hike he and Tuleyome President Andrew Fulks recently took into the Cedar Roughs Wilderness: partly on trails, partly on a rough track, and partly scrambling through thorny undergrowth, all to reach the massive "cedars" (actually Sargent cypresses) that give the Wilderness its name. Cedar Roughs is one of three federal Wilderness areas in the Berryessa Snow Mountain region, and one of the many reasons why this undiscovered landscape is so special.