California District 24 Congressman Salud Carbajal is reintroducing his bill to bolster federal protection for land on the Central Coast.
The Central Coast Heritage Protection Act aims to designate approximately 250,000 acres of public land in the Los Padres National Forest and Carrizo Plain National Monument as wilderness, providing it with the highest level of federal protection.
In a statement, Carbajal said he proposed the bill in retaliation against the Trump administration's "recent attacks on federal environmental protections."
On Wednesday afternoon, the representative hosted a press conference at Cachuma Lake in Santa Barbara to reintroduce his local legislation.
"It protects our outdoor recreation economy, which, as I understand it, is over $70 billion just alone here in California," Carbajal said. "Not only is it good for our environment, it's good for protecting the ecosystem, species, [and] cultural resources. But it's great for our economy."
Carbajal added that the bill has a year and a half left to pass through Congress, and that he hopes to build on bipartisan support to get it over the finish line.
