FAIRFIELD — Legislation has been introduced to designate the 360,100-acre Berryessa Snow Mountain region as a national monument and permanently protect the area, Rep. Mike Thompson said.

“Protecting the Berryessa Snow Mountain Region will help boost tourism, grow the local economy, improve recreation opportunities and protect important species,” Thompson said in a press release. “By designating the region as a national monument, we can unite all federal lands under one management plan and preserve this national treasure for generations to come.”

U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, along with Thompson, introduced the legislation.

The Berryessa Snow Mountain region stretches almost 100 miles from northwest Solano County to the flanks of Snow Mountain. It covers more than 350,000 acres across Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Solano and Yolo counties.

Thompson, Boxer and Feinstein are also working with the Obama administration to designate the region as a national monument through executive action if Congress refuses to act on the legislation, Thompson said in the release.

No legally open roads or motorized vehicle trails will be closed as a result of the national monument designation, according to Thompson. Federal agencies will retain their existing authority to open new roads and trails or to temporarily close them when necessary, such as during major storms or emergencies, the congressman said.

Directors of the Lake Berryessa Chamber of Commerce voted Jan. 14 to oppose the national monument proposal. Chamber directors in a statement said their primary concern is the possible negative impact on businesses and communities.

“Although the main proponents of the designation, Tuleyome, an environmental group headquartered in Woodland and Congressman Mike Thompson, have publicly stated that Lake Berryessa itself would be removed from the proposal ‘because it is not of historic or scientific value,’ ” said directors, the chamber still has concerns.

“Is Lake Berryessa really off the map?” directors asked. “Does that mean the water surface only? All the land bordering the lake to a certain distance from the shoreline is owned by the federal government and administered by the Bureau of Reclamation. Does this land have ‘important values’ to be protected by limiting access to the lake around the shoreline?”

Directors said they are also concerned about the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument proposal map.

“It is a geographically and ecologically incoherent patchwork of federal parcels,” directors stated. “Lake Berryessa is not even geographically connected on the map to the rest of the proposed national monument, which stretches far into Northern California. The eastern boundary of the map is coincident with the borders of Glenn and Colusa counties.”

The reason is political, not ecological, directors added. Glenn and Colusa County supervisors strongly opposed the original national conservation area, a form of protection like a national monument designation.

Because of that, the national monument doesn’t even include the whole Snow Mountain Wilderness nor even most of the Mendocino National Forest, the chamber added, and asked, “Why is the proposal even called “Berryessa Snow Mountain?”

No compelling reasons exist to create this national monument, according to the chamber.

Its website includes a letter of opposition to send to President Barack Obama to stop the national monument proposal.

Peter Kilkus, a chamber director, said Friday that if the legislation passes, the national monument will be the dumbest in the United States.

“It makes absolutely no sense,” he said.

A representative of Tuleyome could not be reached Friday afternoon.

Thompson said in the release that Solano, Napa, Lake, Yolo and Mendocino counties have voted to support permanent protection for the region.

The Calistoga Chamber of Commerce, Napa County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the cities of Calistoga, Clearlake, Davis, St. Helena, West Sacramento and Winters also support permanently protecting the Berryessa Snow Mountain region, the congressman said.

Thompson, D-St. Helena, represents the 5th Congressional District that includes part of Solano County.

Reach Ryan McCarthy at 427-6935 or [email protected]

conserve snowmountain, 5/28/10