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After signing the Sierra Nevada Conservancy bill along the Bear River, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a thumbs-up to dignitaries and the media. From left are Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz; state Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman; California EPA Secretary Terry Tamminen; and Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe City. The Union photo/John Hart Standing on a wide gravel bar with the Bear River flowing gently by him, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Sierra Nevada Conservancy bill Thursday to the sound of bipartisan applause. "California is where the conservation movement began, and today we are happy to continue this noble tradition," Schwarzenegger said....

Bear River Canyon, Placer County -- Framed by a crystalline stream and steep slopes carpeted with ponderosa pine and black oak, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Thursday authorizing the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a new state agency dedicated to preserving the 25 million acres of forest, meadow and craggy granite peaks that comprise John Muir's "Range of Light."

09-23) 16:56 PDT COLFAX, Calif. (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chose a woodsy mountain setting Thursday to sign legislation establishing a 25 million-acre Sierra Nevada Conservancy, while also signing nearly 20 other bills to protect the Pacific Ocean, curb smog and clean up blighted urban land. With numerous strokes of the pen, Schwarzenegger opened 1,100 miles of car pool lanes to hybrid cars, established the nation's first Cabinet-level Ocean Protection Council in state government and barred cruise ships from burning garbage and dumping sewage inside state waters. He also banned commercial fishing fleets from bottom trawling along designated parts of...

California Farm Bureau Federation vigorously opposes a measure approved by the Legislature last week that calls for the creation of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, an added layer of government that could impact members in 22 counties throughout the Sierra Nevada region. "We are extremely disappointed," said Bill Pauli, California Farm Bureau Federation president. "This legislation is contrary to the governor's California Performance Review and deserves to be vetoed." For almost four years, Farm Bureau and other business groups have worked to oppose legislation that would create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy and further increase government ownership of private lands. The government...

After four years of on-and-off negotiations, state lawmakers have sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a bill to create a state conservancy for California's largest mountain range, and the governor is expected to sign it. The Assembly voted 62-14 Wednesday to create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy with a stated mission of protecting sensitive areas, reducing fire risks and improving tourism opportunities in 22 counties, including Placer and El Dorado. More than anything, the new conservancy would allow the Sierra's rural counties to tap millions of dollars in state bond funds that have gone largely to affluent coastal areas and urbanized Lake Tahoe....

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger faces decisions on bills that would create a Sierra Nevada conservancy, require economic impact reports before local governments approve Wal-Mart-like superstores and promote recycling of cell phones. Also headed to his desk are measures that would bar kids under 14 from using tanning salons without a doctor's approval, require schools to notify parents when they serve students irradiated food and give consumers at least 30 days to claim rebates. California lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to dozens of bills as they rushed to wrap up their 2004 session by Friday. The Sierra Nevada bill,...

SACRAMENTO - The Senate on Wednesday revived an effort to require a paper trail to ensure that electronic voting machines aren't tampered with and accurately record voter preferences. Meanwhile, the Assembly approved a bill that would create a state conservancy to help protect the Sierra Nevada from overdevelopment, and the Senate passed legislation requiring economic impact reports before local governments approve Wal-Mart-like superstores. The Senate also approved a bill by Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, that would require that all touch-screen voting machines used after Jan. 1, 2006, give voters paper receipts verifying how they voted. The machines would also have...

SACRAMENTO - The Senate on Monday approved creation of a state conservancy to protect the majestic Sierra Nevada, but another environmental bill, which would ban smoking on state beaches, stalled as lawmakers began the last days of their 2004 session. The conservancy bill, by Assemblymen Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe City, and John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, cleared the Senate on a 21-14 vote and was returned to the Assembly, which approved a somewhat different version of the legislation in May. If the Assembly adopts the Senate changes, the legislation will go to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The beach-smoking bill, by Assemblyman Paul Koretz,...

Dear Sierra Friends, A very good Friday afternoon to you all! In case you had not heard, I wanted to make sure you knew that the Sierra Nevada Conservancy bill, AB 2600, will be heard on the Senate Floor this coming Monday, August 23. Senator Bruce McPherson (R—Santa Cruz) will be presenting AB 2600 as the bill’s official floor jockey. Below, I am including material we’ve put together on the highlights of the consensus reached by Assemblyman Leslie and Assemblyman Laird and the Schwarzenegger Administration. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me by phone or e mail....

State Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, said he fears water rights in the Sierra could be jeopardized by a conservancy aimed at protecting the mountain range's resources, such as the South Yuba River, shown here off of North Bloomfield Road. State Sen. Sam Aanestad on Monday attacked the idea of a Sierra Nevada Conservancy, fearing it will infringe on property and water rights. Despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's endorsement of the plan, the Republican legislator last week voted against a compromised version of the bill, which would create an organization aimed at gathering grants and other funds to protect and improve...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California is set to spend more than $14 million on new river parkways and open land in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges under the budget signed Saturday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But Schwarzenegger sliced the nearly $50 million sought by Senate leader John Burton, D-San Francisco, because the two new programs will start halfway through the budget year. It was unrealistic to expect to spend all the money in just six months, budget officials said. The now-$4.15 million mountain program is contingent on legislative approval of a new Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a sweeping new government...

Along a stretch of a state highway leading to Yosemite National Park, a band of conservationists has been buying up vacant land. The group has cobbled together about 400 acres in a desirable meadow off Highway 120. But the scrappy Tuolumne County Land Trust is no match for a proposed golf-course community that would rise next to its land onto a spur of Table Mountain, a 500-foot lava formation fabled by Western author Bret Harte. "A little land trust like ours - nobody even listens to us," said Marlee Powell, who also is Sonora's mayor. The only way to compete...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two conservancies paid $13.2 million to purchase 4,520 acres of sensitive desert habitat once slated to become the site of a new city, the conservancies announced Thursday. In addition, the Nature Conservancy and the state-owned Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy said they would buy about another 4,000 acres as part of their plan to protect sand dunes and palm oases and to create a wildlife corridor between the nearly 800,000-acre Joshua Tree National Park and the 20,000-acre Coachella Valley Preserve in southeastern California. The land was once slated as the site of the Joshua Hills development, which...

Dear Sierra friends, I am seeking your thoughts. As you know, I am carrying AB 1788, which would create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy. A state conservancy is an agency that delivers state funds to areas of special value, such as Lake Tahoe or the California Coast. It makes grants and undertakes projects for a wide range of efforts, from acquisition of habitat to fire prevention and economic development. Unlike entities such as the "Coastal Commission" or the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, a conservancy does not have any power to regulate lands. As a staunch defender of private property rights...

OPINION -- The Mighty Mississippi River is truly unique - it is the main artery dividing the East from the West. This magnificent river is multi-purpose. The river supports habitat for all kinds of plant and animal species on its many islands and along the extensive shoreline. There are hundreds of little fingers and coves where recreation abounds, while co-existing with many species that call the river area their home. Long overdue legislation has been introduced authorizing 1200 foot locks to be built on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to replace the outdated 600 foot locks. The shipping industry, commercial...

Two bills making their way through the California Assembly would create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy. If passed, the conservancy would direct money to help manage the public lands in the mountain range. The Union photo/Pico van Houtryve It spans nearly 500 miles, supplies the water that nourishes California’s economy and has provided vocations and vacations for generations, but the Sierra Nevada has no benefactor like the conservancies that care for Lake Tahoe or the state’s vast coastline. That could change this year, however, if one of the two bills now winding through the Legislature is approved - or if...

Socialist agenda being pushed through the California Legislature.ALERT:Hearing scheduled for Sierra Nevada Conservancy bills 6/29/04 AB 2600 (Laird) SUMMARY : Creates within the Resources Agency the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (Conservancy) to acquire and manage land for various specified public objectives, and to make grants for those purposes, in the Sierra Nevada-Cascade Mountain Region. AB 1788 (Leslie) SUMMARY : Creates within the Resources Agency the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (Conservancy) to acquire and manage land for various specified public objectives, and to make grants for those purposes, in the Sierra Nevada Region. AB 2631 (Wolk) SUMMARY : Establishes an interagency council (more...

DATE: JUNE 16, 2004 TO: ALL GRASSROOTS AND CONCERNED CITIZENS FROM: ROSE COMSTOCK, ALLIANCE FOR AMERICA www.allianceforamerica.org PLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR LIST AND ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO RESPOND. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! WHAT: WILD LANDS PROJECT AT WORK - JUNE 29, 2004 - HEARINGS ARE SCHEDULED FOR TWO BILLS - AB1788 & AB2600 -EACH AUTHORIZE ESTABLISHING A SIERRA NEVADA CONSERVANCY IN CALIFORNIA TO ACQUIRE, AND DIRECT THE MANAGEMENT, OF PUBLIC LANDS LOCATED PRIMARILY WITHIN THE CORE SIERRA NEVADA REGION. STATUS: BOTH BILLS ARE CURRENTLY IN THE CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE. THIS COMMITTEE IS CHAIRED BY ONE...

Two bills that would create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy are set to move into the state Senate. The two efforts, AB 2600 and AB 1788, are progressing despite lingering questions over the degree of local control in the legislation. The aim of a conservancy is largely to coordinate funding and conservation efforts for the 400-mile long mountain range. The Sierra Nevada Conservancy is an almost five-year effort by conservationists to focus funding on an area that they say has largely been looked over. The California coast and Lake Tahoe both have conservancies, but the Sierra Nevada as a whole is...

A state audit has accused the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy of mismanaging $7 million in voter-approved bond money that was supposed to be used to acquire and restore parkland. In a scathing report, Department of Finance auditors found that the conservancy “does not adequately manage, control, or oversee” $115 million in bond funds, funneling away money to pay for legal fees, office expenses, conferences, cars, travel, vacation and sick pay, and “excessive” overhead charges. “In our opinion, they’re not spending funds in line with the bond measures,” said Samuel E. Hull, chief of the Office of State Audits and Evaluations....