Lawmakers Push for More Wilderness in Oregon

Popular conservation measures reintroduced in Congress.

Oregon Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Representative Peter DeFazio Thursday re-introduced a package of bills in Congress to expand Oregon's wilderness.
 
Erik Fernandez with the conservation group Oregon Wild says the legislation would give wilderness protection to 30,000 acres in the pristine Devil's Staircase in southwest Oregon.
 
Fernandez: "The coast range mountains have been very heavily logged, decimated over the years. There's one place where the chainsaws missed and that is the Devil's Staircase area. It's one of the very few intact old-growth forests in the coast range. And we're very excited to see Congress moving forward with protections for that area.
 
The bills would also upgrade protections of the Chetco River on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. They also increase the land protected from logging around the Oregon Caves National Monument. Fernandez says there's widespread public support for the legislation.