CA National Wild & Scenic River Bills Re-Re-Reintroduced
Tuolumne River Wild & Scenic, Credit: Friends of the River
How’s the saying go? Sixth time’s the charm…
California Congressional river allies are once again showing their perseverance. On December 17, 2025, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D–Calif.) reintroduced his Protecting Unique and Beautiful Landscapes by Investing in California (PUBLIC) Lands Act (S. 3526). The bill is the Senate companion measure to the three bills reintroduced by California Representatives Salud Carbajol, Judy Chu, and Jared Huffman. Together, they would protect nearly 700 miles of new wild and scenic rivers and also create permanent protections for more than 900,000 acres of public lands, as well as fund ecological restoration and fire resilience work on an additional 871,000 acres.
The Eel River flowing amongst the Humboldt redwoods, Credit: Friends of the River Archives.
Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act (H.R. 6913, text)
U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D–San Rafael) originally introduced this bill in July 2018. It would designate 479.8 miles of new wild and scenic rivers across Northwest California. Notably, the bill would protect 95.7 miles of the South and North Forks of the Trinity River, 62.7 miles of the Middle Fork Eel River, and 27.6 miles of Redwood Creek.
This will be the fifth Congress in which Representative Huffman has introduced this bill.
Central Coast Heritage Protection Act (H.R. 4877, text)
U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D–Santa Barbara) has reintroduced a bill that was originally introduced in April of 2015 by former Representative Lois Capps (D–Santa Barbara). In its current form, the bill would protect 199.3 miles of wild and scenic rivers, including 69.2 miles of Sisquoc Creek and its tributaries, as well as portions of Sespe Creek and Surprise Canyon.
This will be the sixth Congress in which this bill has been introduced.
Caption: Sespe Creek, Friends of the River Archives.
San Gabriel Mountains Foothills and Rivers Protection Act (H.R. 6783, text)
U.S. Representative Judy Chu (D–Monterey Park) first introduced this bill in October of 2015. After successfully lobbying for the expansion of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in 2024 under the Biden Administration (an effort that included support from Senator Padilla and former Representative Grace Napolitano (D–San Gabriel Valley)), Representative Chu has reintroduced her bill to further expand protections of public lands and rivers in California’s youngest mountain range. If passed, H.R. 6783 would protect 20.2 miles of new wild and scenic rivers and tributaries, as well as list 25 miles of the East, North, and West Forks of the San Gabriel River as study rivers under Section 5(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
This will be the fifth Congress in which Representative Chu has introduced this bill.
All told, Senator Padilla’s PUBLIC Lands bill, which has been co-sponsored by Senator Adam Schiff (D–Calif.), would mark a significant stride forward in providing permanent protections for a host of California’s most threatened rivers. With each of its component bills having been introduced at least five times, will this 119th Congress be the one to finally pass these protections into law?
We’re not holding our breath. The current Congress has so far not proven themselves to be particularly strong allies for California’s rivers (nor rivers in general for that matter). Nevertheless, we applaud Senator Padilla, Senator Schiff, and Representatives Carbajal, Chu, and Huffman for their tireless advocacy on behalf of California’s rivers and public lands. We are grateful for their leadership.
