The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

So, what is Wild and Scenic anyway?  It is a tool that my organization uses to protect rivers, but there are a lot of misconceptions about it.  I wanted to write a little bit about exactly what it means.

One of the best tools for long-term protection of many of our rivers and creeks comes from a federal Wild & Scenic Designation.  There are actually two Wild & Scenic systems, one state and one federal.  California's state system was stripped of most of it's real meat many years ago, so the best tool is the federal designation.

Here is what the act actually says:

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Congress declares that the established national policy of dams and other construction at appropriate sections of the rivers of the United States needs to be complemented by a policy that would preserve other selected rivers or sections thereof in their free-flowing condition to protect the water quality of such rivers and to fulfill other vital national conservation purposes. (Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, October 2, 1968)

So, what does that mean?  Well, it mostly deals with how federal lands are managed.  If you owned a bit of property along a Wild and Scenic river it would not actually keep you from developing the land in accordance with the land use guidelines of your particular county, city or state.  Lots of folks think it means these areas get locked up, but that is not it at all.  It means that the areas have to be managed, from a Federal perspective, as to maintain the outstanding values of that river/area.  If there is no Federal land around a particular river, it makes no sense to have such a designation and that's why Friends of the River and Cal Trout would not pursue such a designation.

If a bit of river flowed through national forest or BLM land it would make the river a good target.  The river would have to be preserved in it's free flowing state (no dams) and, if fishing were one of the outstanding features, fishing would have to be considered in any land use planning in that area of forest or BLM land.  That could impact forestry, mining or road building.

Here is a list of federally designated rivers in CA: http://www...v/wildriverslist.html#ca