Save Carrizo Plain

Re “Federal lands may lose protection,” April 27

I recently visited Carrizo Plain National Monument for the first time. The wildflower superbloom was in progress, and Soda Lake was full.

Carrizo Plain is a spectacular landscape with great vistas. It lacks drainage as a result of the mountain ranges on either side of the San Andreas fault. Nothing larger than a bush grows on the plain, apparently from the alkalinity.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and spent the night in the nearby town of Taft, which proclaims itself an oil town. To get to Taft we drove through a dystopian landscape of countless oil pumps east of the Temblor mountain range. The contrast with the pristine Carrizo Plain was unsettling.

President Trump tells us that the government has taken land from the people to create national monuments like Carrizo Plain. His executive order requiring the Department of Interior to evaluate monument declarations made by his three most recent predecessors could ruin this wonderful place. I encourage the president to visit both Carrizo Plain and the nearby community of Taft.

Francine Orr Los Angeles Times WILDFLOWERS BLOOM in the Temblor Range at the Carrizo Plain National Monument on April 9.