House panel passes bill by Oregon

House panel passes bill on Oregon Caves backed by DeFazio.

Legislation to  expand the Oregon Caves National Monument, sponsored by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-4th District, passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, the congressman's office reported  from Washington.

The legislation would transfer 4,070 acres of Forest Service-managed land to the existing 480-acre Oregon Caves National Monument and designates the River Styx, the underground stream running through Oregon Caves, as the first subterranean Wild and Scenic River in the nation.

Expanding the monument to include the Lake Creek watershed will give the National Park Service management responsibilities over the water resources that have a direct impact on the monument’s water supply and the Caves’ ecosystem, according to DeFazio.

The 4,070-acre expansion will be managed as a National Preserve, which will allow the National Park Service to conduct forest restoration and fuel reduction to prevent fire. Hunting, fishing, and trapping would also be allowed on the preserve in accordance with applicable federal and state laws.

Oregon Caves is the longest marble cave (3.5 miles) open to the public west of the Continental Divide. Recent discoveries indicate it possesses a significant collection of Pleistocene fossils, including jaguar and grizzly bear.

Grizzly bones that were found in the cave in 1995 were estimated to be at least 50,000 years old, the oldest known from either North or South America.

The Oregon Caves National Monument also includes the Oregon Caves Chateau, which is one of the National Park system’s Great Lodges and a National Historic Landmark. The six-story hotel located on the monument has a dining room, a 1930s era coffee shop and 23 rooms.

The NPS has proposed to expand the boundary of the monument to encompass several other caves, as well as the surrounding Cave Creek Watershed numerous times, in 1939, in 1949, and most recently in 1999.

If the bill clears the House, it will then go to the Senate for consideration.