possible benefits and program objectives that will be beneficial not only to the people, but also to the agencies that have the prime responsibility for administering.

And with other witnesses here, Mr. Chairman, I would ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to insert a statement in full at this point in the record.

Mr. MELCHER. Without objection, Mr. Clausen's statement will be made a part of the record at this point.

Hearing no objection, so ordered.

[The prepared statement of the Honorable Don H. Clausen follows:]

STATEMENT OF HON. DON H. CLAUSEN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased that you have once again demonstrated your leadership in the protection and effective management of our public lands by scheduling this hearing on legislation a number of us have introduced to set up a California Desert management plan.

This bill will establish the second National Conservation Area in the United States. The first, of course, in the Kings Range National Conservation District which is in my own Congressional District and which was enacted in a bill I authored.

We often find that the Bureau of Land Management-and for that matter, other agencies-has had definite limitations on what it can do in specific areas because it works from general authorities.

Thus, it is suitable that we include provisions relating to the specific California Desert area in this legislation conveying general authority to the Bureau. The competing demands on the Desert for both preservation and utilization are impossible to deal with without a comprehensive management plan.

In addition, the national conservation area designation will focus national attention on the Desert's multitude of resources and its fragile ecology which supports them.

It is clear to me that a management plan based upon the multiple-use concept can be and must be devised if we are to manage successfully this vast area.

I am pleased that we will be obtaining a hearing record today in support of this proposal and I am hopeful that the Subcommittee's action today will mean the bill can be enacted into law this year.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MELCHER. Thank you very much, Don.

Another of our colleagues from the full committee is here to testify today, the Honorable Bill Ketchum.

Bill.

STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM M. KETCHUM, REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE 36TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Mr. KETCHUM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MELCHER. We are very pleased to have you with us, and very delighted to have your testimony.

Mr. KETCHUM. I seem to be spending more time on the Public Lands Subcommittee than I do on my own.

Mr. MELCHER. You are certainly doing a good job of helping us, Bill, and we are very pleased.

Mr. KETCHUM. Thank you, and I will try to read the statement as fast as I can in the interest of time.

Mr. Chairman, I wish to thank you and the members of this subcommittee for granting me the opportunity-incidentally, there are copies of this distributed, or should be-to testify today in support of H.R. 5289 and other legislation dealing with the protection of the California desert. I also wish to commend my friend and colleague from California, Congressman Bob Mathias, for his leadership in sponsoring this important measure.

The California desert is an immense area-nearly 17 million acres, a third of the entire State of California. Still, the desert has been relatively untouched by the growth of California's population, and its fragile beauty and broad vistas remain substantially the same as when the first settlers from the East crossed it en route to the coast. More than 700 species of flowering plants thrive here, hundreds of types of animals call it their home, and the landscape is like none other in the United States. In short, as I am sure you have been made aware, it is an area of great environmental significance and stunning beauty.

What my colleagues and I seek to do in the legislation before you is insure that our great California desert appears in the same way to our descendants. Without adequate protection and proper management, there is little doubt that the encroachment of man will alter the desert's character and destroy its natural charm and beauty forever. I do not say that such actions will be undertaken deliberately, but rather as piecemeal intrusions, perhaps harmless in themselves, but leading to the overdevelopment of an area which should remain as unspoiled as possible.

One real problem that this legislation addresses is the phenomenal growth in the number of visitors to the desert area. Every day, more and more Americans discover the wonders of the desert, with its vast spaces that are becoming so rare in American life. I wish I could share with you the many letters I have received from my constituents many of whom reside within the proposed National Conservation Area-commenting on the great joy they take in traveling through the diverse topography of the desert. Statistics from the Bureau of Land Management show that this is a pastime shared by unprecedented numbers of Americans-Americans crowded into cities and suburbs who yearn to roam over acres and miles of untouched land. All signs are that this trend will only increase in the years ahead.

Of course, the end result of all this traffic coming into the desert. will be the destruction of the very thing that now makes it so desirable. Lacking orderly management, the desert has been lined with more roads and trails to accommodate its visitors, littered with trash and blemished with hastily constructed buildings. Each of these in themselves may not have caused severe damage to the desert environment, but when they all are taken together, the result has been disastrous. And without passage of this legislation. they will continue until someday in the future, the great California desert will be gone.

The bill this subcommittee has before it, H.R. 5289, will place. 12 million acres of the California desert under the protection and management of the Bureau of Land Management. It provides a

program and funds for the orderly administration and development of this irreplaceable natural resource. Our bill would not prevent people from using the desert, but it would insure that the desert will remain what people come out to see-a fascinating primitive area, not a maze of highways and hot dog stands. I cannot urge you too strongly to act favorably on this bill.

There is one suggestion I want to make to you and one amendment I propose to this bill.

The Eastern Mojave Area of the California Desert is of special beauty and of great recreational, historical and natural value. It has been designated by the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of the Interior as one of the 19 recreation areas of the desert considered to have special value. For the information of the Subcommittee, I enclose a map showing the location of the eastern Mojave area. The California State Park and Recreation Commission and the State Department of Parks and Recreation are most anxious to establish an Eastern Mojave Desert and are prepared to make a full commitment to make this park a reality. For several months I have been working with these State agencies in drawing up a plan providing for Federal cooperation in the creation of this park. I am now ready to present this plan to the Congress.

Basically, all this legislation provides is the transfer of 2,141,459 acres of land with the proposed park from the BLM management to the management of the State of California. I have received a commitment from the State that if this transfer is effected, the State Department of Parks and Recreation will begin the purchase of the 436,305 acres of privately owned land within the proposed park.

I am convinced that the State Department of Parks' knowledge of the area and intense commitment to its preservation insures a wonderful park for the people of the entire Nation. The Department of Parks will assume responsibility for assigning park rangers, management personnel, and interpretative specialists to properly oversee and preserve the Desert State Recreation Area, while at the same time establishing Desert Interpretative Centers to facilitate public enjoyment. The State Department of Fish and Game has also pledged its assistance to maintain the character of the area. Mr. Chairman, I am delighted that the State of California has been so farsighted and so willing to assume responsibility for the establishment of this Eastern Mojave Recreation Area. I am convinced that the legislation I have introduced, to transfer the management of this land, will be the beginning of a great State park, and I urge you to pass upon it favorably when considering the management of the California desert.

Mr. Chairman, I think you again for this opportunity to commend this legislation to the subcommittee. By enacting these bills, the Congress will preserve a great and unique area and earn the thanks of millions of Americans of this and future generations.

That concludes my statement, and the map is attached, Mr. Chair

man.

I think, from a parochial standpoint, that it should be known that the entire section that we have proposed here resides within

the confines of the congressional district I have the honor to rep

resent.

Mr. MELCHER. Thank you very much, Bill.

I am looking at the map. I seee that generally it lies east of Barstow; is that correct?

Mr. KETCHUM. That is right; east of Barstow, and South of the Death Valley National Monument.

Mr. MELCHER. What county is that in, or counties?

Mr. KETCHUM. San Bernardino I think it is all in San Bernardino. Mr. MELCHER. Lancaster is in Antelope Valley. Is there a county called Antelope?

Mr. KETCHUM. Lancaster and Palmdale are in northern Los Angeles County. They are adjacent to Kern, and then Inyo and then to the east, San Bernardino.

Mr. MELCHER. Those are huge counties in that part of California. Mr. KETCHAM. I guess San Bernardino is the largest county in the world.

The State Department of Parks and Recreation and the commission have been interested in this area for a great long time.

Mr. MELCHER. You speak about inholdings of 450.000 in the area. What type of inholdings are those?

Mr. KETCHUM. To be absolutely candid, Mr. Chairman, I cannot tell you. I would suspect that most of those inholdings would be desert homes. There would be very little ranching in that particular area of any real significance.

Mr. MELCHER. Yes.

Do you feel that the State could manage it better than the Federal Government?

Mr. KETCHUM. I really think that they could, and this is not to deride the efforts of BLM, the National Park Service, or any of the people that work for the Federal Government. The State Department of Parks and Recreation has been very, very aggressive in the development and care of our parks in California. They feel that they are so close to this desert situation that they, perhaps, being right on the ground, would be able to manage it better than the BLM or the National Park Service.

Mr. MELCHER. The gentleman from California.

Mr. CLAUSEN. I do not have a map available to me.

When you talk about the ownership pattern and the 436,000 acres that are privately owned, it is interspersed? Would it make a checkerboard ownership of the area?

Mr. KETCHUM. It is my understanding that it is. I cannot honestly answer that. But it is my understanding that it is interspersed, publice and private.

Mr. CLAUSEN. Are the parcels, small parcels of land with a number of ownerships, or are we dealing with a significant size?

Mr. KETCHUM. I think you would be dealing primarily with small ownerships and a lot of people.

The desert, over the years, particularly the Federal land, has been subject to homestead land. From time to time, the land was put up to bid, and people would go in on the land and then prove it up. That is what has contributed to some of the problems in the

California desert. It got to the point where some people were hauling out refrigerator cars and saying that this was proving up the homestead. I am sure that you are familiar with it, having driven through that area, Don: but it is spotted with that type of ownership. Mr. CLAUSEN. Right.

Based upon your familiarity with area and the people involved, is there any known opposition to your proposal?

Mr. KETCHUM. In all candor, I would have to say that I do not know, because I do not think that the people, the inholders, at this time are really aware of all that is going on. They are very interested in preserving the area. But as far as having had opposition letters, I have had none, up to now.

The areas of biggest concern, perhaps, are the individuals with the off-road vehicles, the motorcyclists and that sort of thing. And I am sure the BLM could go into that with you at great length because they are very vociferous, very vocal, and sometimes unreasonable when it comes to infringing on their rights to travel over the desert. I think that there is room for everybody, and I think that this is one of the things that we have to settle while we are talking about the desert. Obviously, it ought to be open to everyone, not just backpackers. There ought to be areas that are not quite as fragile as other areas where we can use motorcycles or off-road vehicles, and let those people share in the activities, just as we would with horseback riders and the rest.

Mr. CLAUSEN. And you feel that this legislative proposal would move us in the direction of helping all agencies, be they State or Federal to classify land so that you can in fact accommodate the various interests under a specific management plan.

Mr. KETCHUM. Yes, I do. We have tried to do that in some of our other parks, to intersperse use, so that there was a place for people who liked to hike-and they certainly do not want to be interferred with by some noisy motorcycle-and at the same time try to set aside areas where you can use these types of vehicles. And the backpackers know that that area is set aside, so we do create a balance, I think.

Mr. CLAUSEN. Mr. Chairman, I think that this is the kind of thing that those of us who have the responsibility over public lands are going to have to look more and more to in order to minimize the conflict and maximize the benefits for those people who have a possibly differing but very specific interests as they relate to the various types of recreation.

I am pleased to hear of the attitude of the State in this, because in California, we have literally 45 percent of the total lands of the State of California under Federal ownership. But I think in order for us to reach the maximum benefit for not only California, but for people outside of the State who come and visit the area, there is going to be a need for some sort of transfer between the Federal Government and State agencies if we are going to realize the optimum advantages from the standpoint of conservation and recreation.

Mr. KETCHUM. The State of Oregon has done a remarkably good job along these lines. I belong to a trial riding group which goes to Oregon every year, and they have set aside areas, for example,