Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today issued the following statement in recognition of the fifteen-year anniversary of the California Desert Protection Act. Senator Feinstein was the lead Senate author of the landmark legislation, which protected more than 7 million acres of California desert. It was the largest such designation in the history of the continental United States – and established the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the East Mojave Natural Preserve.
         
“Fifteen years ago, the California Desert Protection Act was signed into law, establishing lasting federal protection for 7 million acres of desert lands in Southern California. On that day, the public was gifted with three new national treasures: the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Mojave Preserve. It was a remarkable achievement, and remains one of my proudest accomplishments as a United States Senator.

In my view, no landscape is more surprising or more remarkable than the California desert, with its outcroppings of distinctive Joshua trees, stark mountain vistas, barren arroyos, weather-beaten boulders, majestic bighorn sheep and rugged desert tortoise. It’s something that everyone should see in their lifetime – particularly in the springtime when the wildflowers bloom.” 

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