Colorado Wilderness Act of 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Protecting America's Wilderness Act.
This bill includes a number of worthy initiatives to expand and protect our national heritage, and I am very pleased and grateful that the legislation includes the Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act, a bill I have been working on for nearly 20 years.
The Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act would expand the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include the lands known as the Rim of the Valley. This includes Simi Hills, Santa Susana Mountains, Verdugo Mountains, part of Santa Clarita, San Gabriel Mountain foothills, the Los Angeles River, and Griffith Park, all important green spaces in the greater Los Angeles region, one of the park-poorest regions in the country.
By expanding the national recreation area, the National Park Service will have the authority to make capital improvements, like repairing hiking trails and maintaining facilities for public enjoyment, studying wildlife and its habitats, and participating in cooperative conservation with local landowners. It will help ensure wildlife corridors that allow Los Angelinos to experience lions, bears, and other precious wildlife in their own backyard.
Protecting and embracing our national spaces is very important to me personally. I come from a hiking family. My wife, Eve, and I love to go on hiking trips with our friends or when we can steal away during the summer, evening hikes through Griffith Park. From time to time, I like to run alone in the Verdugos, with a little extra pace at certain points, knowing that one of P-22's mountain lion friends might be watching me from the tall grass.
Last week, I asked my constituents to send some reflections about what the Rim of the Valley means to them, along with their favorite pictures of the natural beauty of our region, and you can see just a sampling of the beautiful vistas that they sent behind me.
I want to say, I think my constituent Donald from Sunland put it best when he said: ``I appreciate how the calm beauty of undeveloped nature replenishes my spirits. Everyone, including future generations, should be able to access unspoiled nature.''
We owe it to ourselves and our children and grandchildren to safeguard these treasures. The Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act plays an important role in this effort.
I want to thank Chairman Grijalva and his staff for their work on this legislation. I want to thank my colleague, Diana DeGette. I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 2546.
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