FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Senators Smith and Wyden Announce Compromise on Mount Hood Wilderness

Senators Smith and Wyden Announce Compromise on Mount Hood Wilderness

Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) today welcomed the announcement of a compromise agreement between Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) that would protect 125,000 acres of Wilderness and nearly 80 miles of Wild and Scenic rivers around Mount Hood and in the Columbia Gorge.

Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) today welcomed the announcement of a compromise agreement between Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) that would protect 125,000 acres of Wilderness and nearly 80 miles of Wild and Scenic rivers around Mount Hood and in the Columbia Gorge.

"The agreement that Senator Wyden and Senator Smith have announced today is a rare balance," observed Regna Merritt, Executive Director of the Oregon Natural Resources Council. "They have negotiated a bi-partisan compromise that will safeguard some of the last wild lands and rivers around Mount Hood as a legacy for future generations."

ONRC, together with other conservation and community organizations, have mapped and documented over 260,000 acres of wilderness quality lands in the Mount Hood National Forest. In 2004, Senator Wyden introduced the Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act that sought to protect 177,000 acres of these lands. The Wyden-Smith compromise plan announced today represents a balance between the 2004 plan and the more modest 77,500-acre Mount Hood Stewardship Legacy Act (HR 5025) that passed the US House of Representatives in July.

"As conservationists, we would like to like to see other pristine areas be protected as well," said Merritt. "But the Wyden-Smith compromise plan is a balance between Wyden's 2004 Wilderness legislation and the House Bill passed this summer."

The Senate compromise includes all of the areas protected in the House legislation, including the rugged backcountry of the Roaring River watershed and the 1000-year old cedar trees of Big Bottom. But the compromise also includes protection for many special areas left out of the House bill, such as scenic canyons along the White River, the important wildlife migration corridors of Bonney Butte, the old-growth forest surrounding Memaloose Lake, and the beautiful whitewater of the East Fork of the Hood River.

"With this compromise, Senator Wyden and Senator Smith have struck a balance that will leave a tremendous legacy for future generations," noted Erik Fernandez, ONRC Wilderness Manager. "From the scenic beauty of the Columbia Gorge to the clean water and wild salmon of the Clackamas River, their plan will ensure that a century from now Oregonians will still find beauty, freedom, and solitude in the wild lands around Mount Hood."

Quick action on the Wyden-Smith compromise plan is needed to pass legislation this year. The legislation will be introduced in the Senate at the end of the August recess, and it is hoped the bi-partisan agreement will quickly move through the Senate. At that point attention will turn to the US House of Representatives, where quick action is also needed.

"To make this balanced compromise a reality, we need the support and quick action of the all of Oregon's Congressional Delegation," added Fernandez. "All Oregonians who value wild lands, clean water, and wildlife should urge their elected officials to work together to make Wilderness protection a reality this year."

Conservationists also applauded the announcement of an agreement between the Senators to end cattle grazing within a portion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, and protect 23,000 acres of the monument as Wilderness.

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