Compromise by Feinstein on Desert Measure Possible : Environment: Opposition by Rep. Jerry Lewis softens senator’s stand on proposed East Mojave national park.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein indicated Tuesday she may be willing to compromise on the California desert bill in the face of opposition from Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands), an influential moderate with a solid environmental record.

Lewis, whose district includes desert lands, described the legislation at a hearing as “the Feinstein California Unemployment Act of 1993” and predicted it would alter or eliminate as many as 20,000 mining industry jobs, most of them in the proposed East Mojave national park.

Feinstein said afterward that she is willing to consider changing the legislation to designate the East Mojave as a national monument, with fewer restrictions and less environmental protection. Lewis said during his testimony that he would accept monument status for the region.

Until he testified, Lewis had withheld his opinion about the bill, saying he wanted a chance to work with Feinstein to fashion a measure that addressed his concerns and those of other lawmakers who represent desert regions. Lewis said Feinstein had not done so, a charge disputed by the senator.

Lewis’ opposition is significant because he represents a portion of the desert and is influential with fellow Republicans.

The proposal would preserve 7 million acres of California desert, creating 74 wilderness areas and upgrading the East Mojave National Scenic Area, the Death Valley National Monument and the Joshua Tree National Monument to national parks, affording them greater environmental protection.

The most serious point of contention involves the 1.5 million acres in the East Mojave and the restrictions that would come with making it a national park under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.

The desert’s current designation as a scenic area allows extensive mining and cattle ranching, which environmentalists say harm the fragile desert wildlife and ecology.

The House passed a bill similar to Feinstein’s in November, 1991, but the Senate legislation was stalled for seven years because California Republican Sen. Pete Wilson and his successor, John Seymour, would not agree to it in the form proposed by former California Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston.

Prospects for the legislation jumped with the election of two new Democratic senators. Feinstein introduced a new version in January that made many concessions to ranchers, the mining industry and the military in the hope of attracting substantial support.

At that time, Lewis withheld his opinion. But in testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on public lands, national parks and forests, Lewis declared his formal opposition because “the process has been driven more by politics than by compromise.”

Joining Lewis in testimony against the proposal Tuesday was Rep. Al McCandless (R-La Quinta).

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Department of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt spoke in favor of Feinstein’s bill, and Babbitt suggested several technical changes that would leave the measure substantively unchanged but allay some concerns.

Supporters of Feinstein’s bill pointed to a statewide Field Institute Poll released Tuesday showing that 75% of Californians favor creating a national park in the East Mojave. The institute, which surveyed 1,052 adults in February, also found that 68% of respondents living in California’s desert counties support the measure, even though hunting would be barred in the park.

Testimony on the bill continues today.