April 6, 2001

Contact:
Brian Trautwein (805) 963-1622
Peter Galvin (510) 841-0812 x2
Alasdair Coyne (805) 921-0618

CALIFORNIA'S WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS AT RISK
Los Padres National Forest Fails to Protect Big Sur River, Sisquoc River and Sespe Creek as Mandated by Federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

SAN FRANCISCO - A coalition of environmental groups including the Environmental Defense Center, Keep Sespe Wild and Center for Biological Diversity, and filed a lawsuit today under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (WSRA) against the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) and the Secretary of Agriculture in Federal District Court in San Francisco. The suit charges that the Forest Service and its parent, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are in violation of the WSRA for their failure to prepare river management plans for the Big Sur, Sespe and Sisquoc Rivers as mandated by the WSRA. The suit asks that the court compel the Forest Service to prepare and adopt river management plans within six months.

The 1968 WSRA mandates that agencies responsible for managing segments of the Wild and Scenic River System prepare comprehensive management plans to protect the designated river segments within three years of their addition to the WSRA system. Portions of the Big Sur, Sespe and Sisquoc Rivers were officially added to the WSRA system in 1992. By law the management plans were due in 1995.

"Without the legally required management plans in place, the majestic Wild and Scenic Rivers of the Los Padres National Forest have been subjected to a variety of increasing pressures and damaging activities," said Brian Trautwein of the Environmental Defense Center. "Once good management plans are in place, we can look forward to needed protection for the rivers' water quality and endangered fisheries."

"The magnificence of the Sespe watershed deserves the proper management planning required by Congress," added Alasdair Coyne, Conservation Director for Keep Sespe Wild.

Peter Galvin of the Center for Biological Diversity stated, "These rivers are some of California's crown jewels and must be given the full protection afforded to them under the law. The Forest Service is over five years late in producing the required river management plans."

The Center for Biological Diversity, a science-based environmental advocacy organization headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, was founded in 1989 and has more than 6,000 members. The Center primarily works to protect endangered wildlife and habitat throughout Western North America and the Pacific.

The Environmental Defense Center is a non-profit, public interest environmental law firm serving California's Central Coast. Since 1977, EDC has provided public education, organizing, advocacy, and legal services to community groups dedicated to environmental quality and health.

Keep Sespe Wild (Ojai) is a non-profit watershed conservation organization that was founded in 1988, to preserve Sespe Creek, one of Southern California's last free-flowing rivers.

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