State lands: wilderness areas.

The California Wilderness Act establishes a California wilderness preservation system composed of state-owned areas designated by the Legislature as wilderness areas and units of the state park system classified as state wildernesses by the State Park and Recreation Commission. The act requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to review specified state-owned roadless areas under his or her jurisdiction as of January 1, 1975, and to report to the Legislature his or her recommendations as to the suitability or nonsuitability of each area for preservation as state wilderness. The act also requires the State Lands Commission to review specified state-owned roadless areas under its jurisdiction and to report to the Legislature its recommendations as to the suitability or nonsuitability of those areas for preservation as wilderness areas. Under the act, the presence of privately owned areas within or contiguous to state-owned areas does not preclude the review of those state-owned areas for suitability or nonsuitability for preservation as state wilderness. The act requires the secretary to report to the Governor and Legislature, on or before December 1, 1975, and each year thereafter, on the status of the California wilderness preservation system, including a list and descriptions of the wilderness areas within the system, guidelines and regulations in effect, and recommendations for additions to the system. This bill would instead require the secretary to review state-owned roadless areas under his or her jurisdiction as of January 1, 2010, and would require that the State Lands Commission review specified state-owned roadless surface areas under its jurisdiction that it holds as trustee of the School Land Bank Fund as of January 1, 2010. The bill would require the secretary and the State Lands Commission to each submit a report to the Legislature of recommendations as to the suitability or nonsuitability of those areas for preservation as wilderness areas and to prioritize reviews and reports as to the suitability or nonsuitability of specified areas for preservation as wilderness. The bill would include additional conditions that would not preclude the review of state-owned areas for suitability or nonsuitability for preservation as state wilderness. The bill would also authorize the State Lands Commission to enter into agreements with federal land management agencies to implement these provisions. The bill would exempt state park lands classified as wilderness by the State Park and Recreation Commission at public hearings, as prescribed, from specified public and governmental notice and hearing requirements of the act. This bill would require that the report, due on or before December 1, 2010, from the secretary to the Governor and Legislature regarding the status of the California wilderness preservation system, include, in consultation with the State Lands Commission and the Department of Fish and Game, a schedule for the required review as to suitability or nonsuitability for preservation as state wilderness of identified state-owned roadless areas. This bill would delete obsolete provisions.