…While Congress Fails to Act on Wild & Scenic River Designations

California

In the category of better late news than never, on August 6, 2025, Representative Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) reintroduced the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act (H.R. 4877). If passed, the bill would add 158 river miles to the national wild & scenic system and 289,000 acres of designated wilderness in the Central Coast region.

This is the sixth Congress for which the bill has been introduced.

So far, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) has not reintroduced her San Gabriel Mountains Protection Act. Neither has Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) reintroduced his Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act or U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) reintroduced his Public Lands Act.

These bills had failed to gain final passage in the four previous Congresses and are likely to remain so in this Congress.

Oregon

North Fork Smith River in Oregon. Credit: Jon Parmentier

There are some similar blunted efforts for the Oregon side of the Smith River watershed shared with California. On March 11 of 2025, in the 119th Congress, Oregon's and California's U.S. Senators reintroduced the Smith River National Recreation Area Expansion Act. The bill, S. 945, would add the North Fork Smith River watershed in Oregon to the Smith River NRA in California created in 1990 with the signature of President George H.W. Bush of S. 2566. S. 945 would designate 74 miles of wild & scenic river segments in the watershed and 58,000 square miles in Oregon to the adjacent Smith River National Recreation Area in California).

Representative Val Hoyle

For a nice map see the December 10, 2023, Headwaters Online article “Continuing Efforts to Protect the Smith River” by Dan Kanner. Some time has elapsed, but the proposal is the same.

S. 945 is probably California’s freshman junior U.S. senator, Adam Schiff's, first wild and scenic river bill co-sponsorship as a U.S. Senator.

The bill has failed in the two previous Congresses.

Representative Jared Huffman

Over at the House of Representatives, on August 28, Rep. Val Hoyle (D-OR) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) reintroduced the Smith River National Recreation Area Expansion Act (H.R. 5041), the House of Representatives companion measure to the Senate bill, S. 945.

This bill had failed to achieve passage in the previous Congress.

Work continues to gather more support in Oregon, but prospects remain slim in this Congress, given the current environment in our nation’s capital.