Bob Schneider talks enthusiastically about the vast, mostly undeveloped area stretching from Solano County's Blue Ridge mountains past Lake Berryessa to the Snow Mountain area in Lake, Glenn and Colusa counties 100 miles to the north.

He mentions the newts found in nearby Cold Canyon and the dozens of dragonfly species in Bear Valley. He describes habitats ranging from oak woodlands to places with greenish-blue serpentine soils that support rare plants and other species.

'It's pretty incredible,' Schneider said.

Schneider, a Davis resident, is president of the Woodland-based environmental group Tuleyome, which for several years has asked the federal government to turn various public lands in the region into a Berryessa Snow Mountain National Conservation Area. About 2,400 acres would be in Solano County in hills northwest of Vacaville. The effort got a recent publicity boost and could get far more than that.

A few months ago, Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah released on his website an internal, 'not for release' draft from the Department of the Interior that lists 14 candidate sites for national monument status using the Antiquities Act. Included on the list is Berryessa Snow Mountain.

Under the Antiquities Act, presidents can restrict use on federal lands by executive order, creating national monuments. Presidents since the passage of the act in 1906 have used it more than 100 times, sometimes in the face of local opposition and causing much controversy. The internal memo says that Berryessa Snow Mountain and the other candidates listed should be further evaluated, 'including an assessment of public and (c)ongressional support.'

Schneider said the news in the leaked memo took him by surprise.

'That was kind of amazing,' Schneider said. 'Of course, we don't know anything about it. It was an internal document. We go back to Washington and meet with folks and it showed up.'

Making an impression

Tuleyome is taking a different approach than lobbying for an Antiquities Act decision, Schneider said. The group's efforts have been geared toward creating a grassroots effort that would prompt Congress to give further protections to the public lands in the region, creating a national conservation area, not a national monument.

But, if the preferred mechanism for giving the area more protections are different, Tuleyome's vision undeniably has made an impression on the Department of the Interior.

'This vast expanse - nearly 500,000 acres in the wild heart of California's inner Coast Ranges - provides habitat and critical long-term movement corridors for many species of wildlife and an unusually rich part of the California Floristic Province, a biological hot spot of global importance,' the Department of the Interior internal memo said.

That sentence first showed up in Tuleyome's 2008 report 'The Berryessa Snow Mountain Region: The Undiscovered Landscape.'

The national conservation area status sought by Tuleyome would affect 470,000 acres of publicly owned lands, Schneider said. The various agencies would have to create a common management plan covering such things as biodiversity, vegetation management and fire ecology. They also could work with state agencies that own land in the area, such as the state Department of Fish and Game.

National conservation area status wouldn't directly affect private property, Schneider said.

'The counties retain zoning and land use approval on all the private lands,' he said.

More easements

But being in a national conservation area could create more opportunities for private landowners to voluntarily establish conservation easements on their land, Schneider said. He and Tuleyome have been concerned about possible increased development in an area near the Sacramento and San Francisco Bay metropolitan areas.

Conservation easements allow willing landowners to sell development rights to an agency or conservation group while still retaining ownership of their property. It has become a common tool for preserving farmland and open space.

Being able to call the area the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Conservation Area also would bring name recognition, Schneider said. That, in turn, could bring more conservation grants.

People seeking recreational opportunities in the area also could benefit, he said. Instead of going to the websites of various agencies to find out what's available, they could go to a single website.

Bishop released the internal memorandum describing the candidates for national monument status out of concern. In a Feb. 26 letter to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, he and other Republican congressional representatives said they were distressed that deliberations so far have taken place without public knowledge.

'Left unanswered at this point are many questions about the status of potential (n)ational (m)onument designations, what groups and individuals are or were involved in this endeavor and the extent to which the process will continue to be carried out behind closed doors,' they wrote.

Better stewardship?

Solano County Supervisor Mike Reagan has been wary about a national monument or conservation area including Solano County lands, especially if it means private lands being acquired by the federal and state governments. He questioned the federal government's ability to effectively manage the land, leading to such problems as invasive species and illegal marijuana cultivation.

'Until we start seeing better stewardship by them of the lands they control, I'm not sure anybody should be excited about the possibility of them acquiring more,' Reagan said.

He'd also like Solano County to receive a call from the federal government over a possible Lake Berryessa Snow Mountain Conservation Area or National Monument.

'I would hope they would negotiate with local land use authorities to make sure they have cooperative relationships,' Reagan said.

That hasn't happened so far, he said.

'And shame on them,' Reagan said.

For Tuleyome, the memorandum has meant publicity. Articles on Berryessa Snow Valley have run in the Los Angeles Times and, thanks to an Associated Press article, in newspapers across the state and in Web publications.

All of this means Tuleyome is no voice in the wilderness when it comes to seeking federal protection for the wilderness to the north of Solano County.

- Reach Barry Eberling at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it