Into the wild

The Eugene Register-Guard looks at the “Oregon Treasures” proposal, a plan that would had Wilderness protections for Mount Hood and 142 miles of Wild and Scenic River protections along the Rogue.

Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since the last major wilderness expansion in Oregon. Congressmen Peter DeFazio and Earl Blumenauer rightly believe it’s time to end that drought.

The two Oregon Democrats last week proposed an “Oregon Treasures” bill that would add 132,000 acres of wilderness, 34,550 acres of recreation area and 80 miles of wild and scenic river designations to the Mount Hood National Forest. That’s 6,500 acres more than is proposed in the Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness bill, which is bottled up in the Senate.

DeFazio and Blumenauer want to go even further by expanding wild and scenic river protections on the Lower Rogue River to include 143 miles of tributary streams and by adding 4,000 acres to the 480-acre Oregon Caves National Monument.

In a recent letter to Oregon’s congressional delegation, Gov. Ted Kulongoski noted that 3.7 percent of Oregon is protected under the federal Wilderness Act. While that may seem like a lot, consider that 14.4 percent of the land area in California and 10.1 percent in Washington state has wilderness protection.

Clearly, it’s Oregon’s turn, and DeFazio and Blumenauer are justified in expanding on last year’s Mount Hood proposal by Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith. None of the additions — which include the Boulder Lake, Bluegrass Ridge and Salmon Huckleberry Keyhole areas — is likely to generate a controversy that could cause the painstakingly crafted Wyden-Smith bill to unravel, and a more wilderness-friendly Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress provides a welcome opportunity to let out the seams.

Once Wyden and Smith find a way to pry their bill loose from the hold placed on it by Sen. Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who specializes in political obstructionism, they should make the additions proposed by DeFazio and Blumenauer and ensure there is no need for a conference committee to resolve differences between the bills.

The addition of new Rogue River wild and scenic protections is also a welcome addition. The Rogue was one of the original eight rivers designated as national treasures when Congress passed the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act nearly 40 years ago.

The existing designation protects a corridor that extends a strip a quarter of a mile wide on each side of the roiling and magical Rogue. But the river’s memorably named tributaries — Kelsey, Whisky, Big Windy, Howard, Mule, Grave, Anna, Missouri, Jenny, Rum, Wildcat, Montgomery, Quartz, Hewitt and Dulong creeks — lack significant federal protections and are vulnerable to logging and other resource extraction activities.

A coalition of conservation groups, including Oregon Wild and American Rivers, also has pushed for adding 60,000 acres to the existing Wild Rogue Wilderness. But DeFazio and Blumenauer prudently left that proposal out of their Oregon Treasures proposal, because opposition by the timber industry could undermine support for the overall bill. Wilderness protection can be added later. Protection of the tributaries would enhance the river’s salmon and steelhead runs, which are essential to Oregon’s recreational and commercial fishing industries. It also would boost tourism, which contributes more than $13 million to the region’s economy.

The expansion of the Oregon Caves National Monument would protect a vulnerable ecosystem from encroaching development, increase public recreation opportunities and help protect a regional source of drinking water.

Oregon’s wilderness prospects received another boost last Wednesday when the House Natural Resources Committee approved the Copper Salmon Wilderness Act. Last year, Wyden and DeFazio proposed the legislation, which would set aside 13,700 acres of old growth forest at the headwaters of the Elk River in Southwestern Oregon.

Located next to the existing Grassy Knob Wilderness Area, the Copper Salmon is nestled between Copper Mountain and Salmon Mountain in the Rogue River/Siskiyou National Forest. It contains one of the nation’s largest remaining stands of low-elevation old growth, including endangered Port Orford cedars and 300-foot-tall Douglas firs.

The Copper Salmon Act, along with the new DeFazio-Blumenauer proposal, should be approved swiftly by Congress, which owes Oregon an infusion of new wilderness.