I recently wrote to you about beavers in my figurative backyard. There are also bald eagles in my figurative backyard.

Heading west and north, San Simeon Creek is a 50-minute drive from my house. Along a back road that parallels the creek stands a large sycamore in a meadow that hosts a bald eagle nest with two juvenile eagles. Karen and I visited the area last Saturday with our daughter, Kelly, and son-in-law, Dalton. The kids arrived earlier and watched as an adult eagle whooshed overhead in pursuit of prey—talons out!

When we arrived, the young bald eagles were home alone. It looks like they are getting ready to fledge. One is perching on a branch a few feet from the nest and can hop and flap its way back into it. It was literally “out on a limb”! The other appears more comfortable remaining in the nest for now.

The trick to finding bird nests is to pedal around on your bike looking for people with large telephoto lenses. When you find one, just pull over and ask, “Watcha lookin’ at?” Birders are not so easily spooked by a human on a bike. They see the cyclist as occupying a similar rung on the societal ladder of weirdness.

As you can tell from the images above, I do not have a large telephoto lense.

These young San Simeon bald eagles are at a stage of development similar to that of the juvenile bald eagles in Big Bear Valley, though they are not nearly as famous. Friends of Big Bear Valley has so far raised $3.2 million toward the purchase of sensitive habitat near the nesting site. The property is called Moon Camp. If you would like to contribute to the effort, visit https://savemooncamp.org/.

Buying land is becoming a familiar model for land preservation. It isn’t always cheap, though.

When I was a kid growing up in Lucas Valley (Marin County), the beautiful hills surrounding our small development of Eichler homes were threatened with development. The homeowners all pitched in to purchase them. To this day, they look much the same as they did when I spent most of my free time roaming and exploring them with my dog, Max.

Now that I have your attention, I want to share some news.

First, the good news: Senator Mike Lee (R–Utah) has failed in his effort to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn the Bureau of Land Management’s plan for Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument.

However, in what has been described as a “Trojan horse,” Senator Lee has added an amendment to the Wildfire Prevention Act that would nullify the federal Roadless Rule, a long-standing regulation that generally restricts new road construction and intensive logging in designated roadless areas of national forests.

The Wildfire Prevention Act attracted support from both Republicans and Democrats. Senator Lee’s amendment reduces the likelihood of its passage.

Senator Alex Padilla, a member of the committee, argued that the Roadless Rule is popular and does not impede wildfire mitigation, and that road expansion can increase fire risk. He also said that any repeal of the rule should not be embedded in wildfire legislation.

Senator Lee is attempting to circumvent the normal process for changing a rule by avoiding environmental review and public comment. This is the same tactic he used when trying to sell off our public lands.

It should also be noted that the Forest Service already faces a substantial maintenance backlog for its existing road network—approximately 400,000 miles of roads.

If you live in California, please thank Senator Padilla for his steadfast defense of the Roadless Rule.

If you live outside California, please let your senators know where you stand on the Roadless Rule. You should also be able to support the Wildfire Prevention Act without being forced to take a position on the Roadless Rule.

Think of the Roadless Rule like this:

Nearly 60 million acres of roadless forest.

An extraordinary form of wealth—not measured in dollars, but in clean water, wildlife habitat, solitude, and wild places.

Imagine trying to buy that today.

The Roadless Rule is one of the greatest gifts we can pass on to our children’s children’s children.

Aren’t they worth it?