On Friday, February 26, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act, a bill that safeguards public lands and wild rivers in the Los Padres National Forest (LPNF) and the Carrizo Plain National Monument, which spans Kern, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties.

The bill was introduced in the House by Representative Salud Carbajal (D-CA) in January, and passed as part of a larger package of public lands bills that together will protect more than 1.5 million acres across the country.

The Biden administration signed an executive order January 7—the day after Carbajal introduced the bill in the House—placing a moratorium on new leasing of federal land for…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

The 2019 Carrizo Plain superbloom moved Sydney Robinson to dance while on a camping trip with her parents, Joel and Leslie Robinson from Naturalist For You.

The 2019 Carrizo Plain superbloom offered a seemingly endless horizon of color.

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This is part of the March 5, 2021 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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