Mission

Flights with Sierra Club, Rep. TJ Cox, American Whitewater, Rafting Magazine, Mariposa Gazette, California Wilderness Coalition over potential wild and scenic river segments in the Sequoia National Forest educated regional media, district congressional staff, outdoor recreation business owners.

Proposed wilderness additions and eligible wild and scenic rivers in the southern portion of Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument will protect roadless areas and watersheds ensuring clean drinking water, conserving habitat for a diversity of fish and wildlife, protecting outstanding scenery, and providing opportunities for human-powered recreation. Additions to Monarch and Dinkey Lakes Wilderness and stand-alone wilderness proposals for Sycamore Springs and Oat Mountain will protect lower elevation ecosystems that are typically under-represented in the wilderness preservation system but are just as or more important than rock and ice wilderness because of the inherent biodiversity of these areas and the connectivity for wildlife movement corridors.

The Monarch addition provides some of the best whitewater boating in the Sierra Nevada and supports one of the largest wild trout fisheries in California. The Monarch addition, Sycamore Springs, and Oat Mountain areas include low elevation ecoystems rare in the National Wilderness System. The Dinkey Lakes and Sycamore Springs areas attracts rock climbers and kayakers to Dinkey Creek, which flows through dramatic canyons carved in glaciated granite rock formations and truly wild recreation opportunities. These wilderness proposals have been crafted with input from citizens and boundaries were drawn to respect existing legal motorized uses.