Some land in this region is truly wild. Viewing it may be hard.

A wilderness is typically an area of public land that has been protected from development and vehicle use, but where hiking, horseback riding, camping, hunting, firefighting and other activities may be allowed.

Pilots Jo Duffy and Randy Henry volunteer to help people experience environments that are difficult to visit.

The pilots were recently hired by Lighthawk – a volunteer organization based in Wyoming that helps people further their environmental goals via airplane.

The pilots met with three passengers at the French Valley Airport Café on Feb. 23. Soon afterward, the group soared from the nearby runway east of Winchester Road.

Duffy and Henry flew their passengers over a vast section of southern Riverside and northern San Diego counties.

The flight was co-organized by California’s statewide river conservation organization, Friends of the River, which provides political action, preservation information and tours of wilderness.

Passenger Matt Rahn, a San Diego State University professor, went on the flight to get a bird’s eye view of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve south of Temecula, which he oversees. The pristine area stretches from Interstate 15 to an area east of Fallbrook.

Rahn has been active out in an ongoing controversy over whether a mining and construction company should be allowed to operate a granite quarry next to the reserve.

"We’re trying to build upon the legislature introduced by Bono Mack," Rahn said.

U.S. Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, and U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer introduced the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act in Congress in September 2007. The bill was signed into law in March 2009.

It designated more than 31 miles in California as wild and Advertisement

[ Chatton and Associates ] scenic rivers. The bill included more than 191,000 acres of new wilderness throughout Riverside County and added more than 8,500 acres to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument.

Steve Evans, conservation director for Friends of the River, guided the overhead viewing of areas which are currently included in a piece of wilderness preservation legislation proposed by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, that may add land to the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act of 2009.

Issa’s congressional district includes Temecula, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Menifee, Canyon Lake, Perris, Oceanside, Vista and the San Diego County communities of Fallbrook, Julian, and Valley Center.

"With all the private land in between the public areas, the wildlife is forced to live on island refuges," Evans said as the group flew over Caliente, a potential reserve. San Diego State University owns a piece of Caliente that the college hopes to continue protecting.

Issa recently presented the legislation in December to a congressional subcommittee, where it still awaits action. 

The newly-designated 5,300-acre Beauty Mountain and Agua Tibia wilderness additions in southern Riverside County are adjacent to a potential 7,834-acre wilderness area in San Diego County. Issa is looking into adding those two areas to Bono’s bill. 

The proposed wilderness legislation includes special provisions that would encourage the development of appropriate recreation facilities.

The designations would protect critical wildlife habitat, scenery and sources of clean water from development;

"This legislation will protect and preserve lands for use by current and future generations," Issa said in a news release. "I’m asking for the public to review and share their ideas so that this wilderness area is created in full consultation with those who will enjoy the benefits of protecting this land and live near it."