High Sierra Topix

Two remote areas of Tulare County to be preserved as wilderness

BAKERSFIELD
January 19, 2009 8:50am
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.c ... /?ID=10902


The Wilderness Land Trust says it has acquired 2,635 acres in Tulare County’s southern Sierra Nevada to preserve as wilderness.

The trust has purchased a 200-acre tract in the Domeland Wilderness and a 2,435-acre property adjacent to the Sacatar Trail Wilderness. Both parcels are in Tulare County east of the Sierra crest and will be conveyed to the Bureau of Land Management to be administered as wilderness.

The 200-acre property in the BLM Domeland Wilderness Addition is situated along a major tributary to the South Fork Kern River. It’s within a quarter-mile of the Pacific Crest Trail and supports riparian habitat and pinyon-juniper woodlands that are surrounded by rugged granitic peaks. The 2,435-acre property adjacent to the Sacatar Trail Wilderness includes expansive wet meadows straddled by pinyon-juniper woodlands and an isolated stand of Joshua trees that occur at an elevation just over 7,000 feet. Both parcels have archeological resources, numerous springs and opportunities for hiking into the rugged backcountry.

"We are delighted that the Wilderness Land Trust could step in and work with willing sellers to protect these important wilderness properties," says Trust President Reid Haughey. "We have the opportunity to decommission several miles of roads and remove fences and other wilderness intrusions that will restore the lands to their natural state."

Founded in 1993, the Wilderness Land Trust describes itself as “a non-profit, publicly supported charity that works to purchase private lands (inholdings) within wilderness. All of the lands acquired by the Trust are transferred to public ownership through voluntary mechanisms that respect landowner property rights and values. The Trust has protected nearly 30,000 acres in over 60 different wilderness areas across California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Colorado.”