Colusa County, CA (MPG) – The Colusa County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 1 voted 3-2 to officially oppose the expansion of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include any federal lands located in Colusa County.
Additionally, the board opposed the renaming of historic Walker Ridge to Molok Luyuk (Condor Ridge), a name requested by Native American Patwin Tribes whose ancestors lived in villages that stretched across the wilderness from today’s Colusa to Solano counties.
Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, both California Democrats, reintroduced legislation in March to expand the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include approximately 3,925 acres of adjacent Bureau of Land Management-administered public lands in Lake County.
U.S. Representatives John Garamendi and Mike Thompson are leading the legislation in the House and expect to seek boundary changes this fall.
On behalf of the Colusa County Board of Supervisors, after a lengthy discussion on the merits of honoring requests from Native Americans and environmental conservation groups to support the inclusion of more public land into the monument and renaming it Condor Ridge, Chairman Kent Boes signed a letter to federal officials asking them, should amendments be proposed to include Colusa County territory, that they advocate against it.
Boes voted against the opposition only because he did not object to the name change.
Supervisor Merced Corona also dissented, showing his support for local tribes.
Although public land in Colusa County is not included in this current proposed expansion, county officials said it was a last-minute redrawing of the original Monument map in 2015 that caused a portion of the county to be included.
Local officials will have no say in the expansion of the monument, but they feared the legislation, as written, could allow for the Secretary of the Interior to “make corrections” that could increase the footprint of the monument in Colusa County.
President Barack Obama created the Berryessa Snow Mountain Monument by proclamation in 2015, using the Antiquities Act. The Monument comprises 330,780 acres of the California Coast Ranges in the counties of Napa, Yolo, Solano, Lake, Colusa, and Glenn. While National Monuments generate tourism, officials said no money comes with such declarations for public services, which places the burden on local governments and volunteers.
Native Americans and land conservationists testified at the Aug. 1 meeting in Colusa that the monument area is home to 7% of the state’s native flora, including about 30 rare plants, such as adobe lily and gray pines, as well as massive fields of wildflowers. From the peak of the ridge, visitors can see Mount Lassen, Mount Shasta, the Trinity Alps, Mount Diablo, and the Snow Mountain Wilderness.
Glen Holstein, of the Yolo-Colusa Chapter of the Native Plant Society, spoke about how beautiful the wildflowers were on the ridge, as well as the rarity of the rocks.
“The flowers up there don’t really occur anywhere else in the world, and, as a result, people are coming from all over the world to see them,” Holstein said. “I think we need to make the funding available that a national monument would provide to make this more safe and welcoming for the visitors who need to see this unique place.”
Native American Tribes with ancestral lands nearby have promoted co-management and collaborative stewardship with BLM to create an opportunity for better fire management and restoration efforts, and to have a meaningful seat at the table.
“Clearly, Tuleyome strongly supports both adding Walker Ridge to the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument and renaming it Molok Luyuk, which is Patwin for Condor Ridge, respecting the ask of the peoples,” said Sandra Schubert, executive director of the nonprofit conservation organization, which currently owns easements in Colusa County.
Schubert said Tuleyome is currently working in the Walker Ridge area building and maintaining trails and cleaning up the monument to better protect cultural resources.
While several other people spoke in favor of the pending federal legislation, Slim Edwards, of Leesville, spoke in opposition, concerned with the rapid decline in the use of public lands for agriculture and livestock.
“As the Snow Mountain National Monument expands, we are losing our grazing lands in the process,” Edwards said. “We are shrunk down to a narrow belt for grazing in Colusa County now. As this expands, they (conservation groups) are also gobbling up private lands and taking them out of production. As for revenue for the county, I’m not seeing that. I’m seeing expenditures for road maintenance as the traffic increases out there and as the garbage gets left behind.”
District 4 Supervisor Gary Evans, who lives in the forest area southwest of Stonyford, objected to the monument’s creation in 2015 and the expansion and name change now, regardless of whether Colusa County is included.
“This is spotted owl 2.0,” Evans said.
Evans said the name change is only a ruse to allow government land to be declared a possible habitat for condors, “even though there are none,” so that it can become a protected area with additional layers of government rules and regulations.
Before making a motion to oppose, Evans showed pictures of what the forests looked like 75-80 years ago, when they were well managed by public and private entities, and what they look like now with the lack of federal resources for proper forest management.
Evans said little good would come of incorporating more BLM land into protected areas.
“I can’t sit here and tell you I’ve got the answer, but more regulations aren’t the answer, and that’s the truth of it.”
Supervisors Janice Bell and Daurice Smith also opposed the expansion of the monument and the name change.