Long-awaited decision made in favor of wilderness expansion

Senate moves ahead with protections for Mount Hood, other Oregon treasures.

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to expand Wilderness on Mount Hood by about 128,000 more acres.

The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 also adds almost 80 more miles to the mountain’s Wild and Scenic River system. Incorporated into the Act was the Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act of 2007 that had been authored by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

“After five years and well over a hundred meetings, the Senate has finally overcome the procedural hurdles that have delayed action to safeguard some of Oregon’s most special places,” said Wyden, who chairs the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests.

“Countless Oregonians, including Sen. Gordon Smith, worked tirelessly and in a bipartisan fashion to protect these natural treasures which define Oregon as one of the most beautiful states in the union.”

The Democratically controlled Senate moved the 164 separate bills folded into the Act forward by invoking cloture, a process used to end debate. For more than one year, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., had procedurally blocked a vote on the public lands package. He objected to the $4 billion tied to the legislation as an “excessive” expenditure in an ailing economy.

On Sunday, the Senate rallied the 60 votes needed to override Coburn’s threatened filibuster. The legislation was approved by a 66-12 percent margin and will be fine-tuned this week.

The Act preserves 200,000 acres of federal property in Oregon, as well as 2 million acres in eight other states.

“The vote on Sunday was the biggest remaining hurdle in passing protections for Hood River’s clean drinking water,” said Erik Fernandez, Wilderness coordinator for the conservation group Oregon Wild.

“The plan will also protect great recreational trails like Cooper Spur, the East Fork Hood River and the Columbia River Gorge.”

Fernandez expects the Act to also be approved in the Democratically controlled House “fairly quickly.” The parliamentary privilege that allowed Coburn to hold up the Senate bills is not available in the House.

The Senate protection for Mount Hood will be reconciled with a similar proposal that was authored in 2008 by Oregon Democrats Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio. The Congressmen have proposed that 132,000 acres of Wilderness be added to the existing 186,200 acres on Mount Hood. Their plan also calls for an 80-mile addition to the existing 110 miles of Wild and Scenic river protection.