Bill Text: CA SJR5 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered

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Bill Title: Yosemite National Park: boundary adjustment.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 23-5)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-26 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 57, Statutes of 2013. [SJR5 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SJR5-Chaptered.html

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BILL NUMBER: SJR 5	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  57
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JUNE 26, 2013
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  APRIL 18, 2013
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 20, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 9, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Berryhill
   (Coauthors: Senators Beall, Calderon, Cannella, De León,
DeSaulnier, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Lieu,
Monning, Padilla, Pavley, Steinberg, Wolk, Wright, and Yee)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Atkins, Bigelow, Buchanan, Gatto,
Holden, Maienschein, Rendon, and Williams)

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2013

   Relative to Yosemite National Park.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 5, Berryhill. Yosemite National Park: boundary adjustment.
   This measure would declare the Legislature's support for adjusting
the boundary of the Yosemite National Park to include an
approximately 1,575 acre area adjacent to the southwest boundary of
the park, further bounded by the Sierra National Forest, and owned by
2 landowners who have expressed their desire to add that area to the
park to protect the integrity of the Yosemite National Park and the
Sierra National Forest. This measure would urge the United States
Congress to act expeditiously in adjusting the boundary of the park.




   WHEREAS, The incomparable Yosemite is a federally designated
national park spanning eastern portions of the Counties of Tuolumne,
Mariposa, and Madera in the central eastern portion of California.
The park covers an area of over 760,000 acres and reaches across the
western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range; and
   WHEREAS, Along with Yosemite's stunning beauty and vast
mountainous views and spectacular waterfalls, it is one of the
largest and least fragmented habitat regions in the Sierra Nevada,
and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has
an elevation range from two to 13,000 feet and contains five major
vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower mountain forest,
upper mountain forest, subalpine zone, and alpine. Of California's
7,000 plant species, about 50 percent occur in the Sierra Nevada and
more than 20 percent are within Yosemite. There is suitable habitat
for more than 160 rare plants in the park; and
   WHEREAS, A federal park bill was passed by both houses of the 38th
United States Congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln on
June 30, 1864, creating the Yosemite Land Grant; while the Yosemite
Valley and the Mariposa Grove were initially ceded to California as a
state park, they were returned to the United States Government by
President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906; and
   WHEREAS, Yosemite was named one of America's first national parks
in 1890, and remains one of the country's most popular natural
attractions with over 3.7 million people visiting Yosemite each year;
and
   WHEREAS, Rural residential development adjacent to the park
creates resource management challenges for the park, the adjacent
Sierra National Forest, as well as local government because of the
difficulty of providing county services such as fire protection,
water, and road services to such a remote location; and
   WHEREAS, There is an approximately 1,575 acre area adjacent to the
southwest boundary of Yosemite National Park, further bounded by
Sierra National Forest, owned by two landowners who have expressed
their desire to add that area to the park; and
   WHEREAS, The inclusion of this area within the national park has
been unanimously supported by the Mariposa County Board of
Supervisors and in 2012 United States Congressman Jim Costa
introduced House Resolution 5709 to adjust the boundary of Yosemite
National Park to allow these willing landowners to transfer this
property to the park; and
   WHEREAS, The proposed boundary line adjustment appropriates no
funds, but would allow the future acquisition of these lands using
existing programs such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund; and
   WHEREAS, The Yosemite National Park is currently preparing for a
150th anniversary celebration in 2014; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature supports adjusting the
boundary of Yosemite National Park to include this property to
protect the integrity of Yosemite National Park and the Sierra
National Forest; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature encourages the United States
Congress to act expeditiously on this boundary adjustment; and be it
further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to each Senator and Representative from California in the
Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate
distribution.