The Associated Press
Sen. Gordon Smith said he will propose a grazing ban as part of the bill. |
PORTLAND — Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith on Thursday proposed a large increase in the acreage the House approved last month for the first wilderness expansion on Mount Hood and along the Columbia River Gorge in more than 20 years.
Wyden, a Democrat, joined his Republican colleague Smith to ask that 125,000 acres be designated wilderness. That would amount to about 195 square miles and represent a 70 percent increase from the areas currently protected as wilderness.
In July, the House approved 77,000 acres, or 120 square miles, of new wilderness area. The House bill had similar bipartisan backing from Republican Greg Walden and Democrat Earl Blumenauer.
The senators also proposed adding nearly 80 miles of river for wild and scenic rivers protection — more than triple the 25 miles approved by the House.
The senators also agreed to propose separate legislation to end cattle grazing within a portion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Southern Oregon near the California border, and to protect 23,000 acres of the monument as wilderness.
"Oregonians love our state's natural beauty," Smith said. "They want to protect it, and they want to enjoy it."
The senators said they have strong support for their proposal, which they plan to introduce when Congress returns in September — and hope to have approved and ready for President Bush before the end of the current session.
"We're going to pull out all the stops to get it on the president's desk this year," Wyden said.
The Democrat said he wanted 180,000 acres — but he praised Smith for working to boost the House proposal to 125,000 acres as a compromise when Smith could easily have settled for less.
Wyden also said the bipartisan effort will improve the chances of passage in the lame-duck congressional session after the midterm election in November — and get the attention of Bush.
"I think he'll take my call," Smith said.
The bill was welcomed by a number of environmental and conservation groups.
"The agreement that Sen. Wyden and Sen. Smith have announced today is a rare balance," said Regna Merritt, executive director of the Oregon Natural Resources Council.
Merritt said her group and others would work to help pass the bill by the end of the year.
The proposed Senate bill would boost protection provided in the House bill for both the environment and recreation. But the senators said the additional protection would not affect mountain bike or snowmobile trails, or areas allocated for timber harvest under the Northwest Forest Plan.
The areas Smith and Wyden propose to protect as wilderness include: Hunchback Mountain; Clackamas Canyon; Memaloose Lake; Mirror Lake; Sand Canyon; Sandy Additions; Inch Creek; Lower White River; Lost Lake; Larch Mountain; South Fork Clackamas; Twin Lakes; Barlow Butte; Bonnie Butte; White River; Badger Creek Additions; Salmon River Meadows; Sisi Butte; Upper Big Bottom; and Bull of the Woods.
Among the river areas proposed for protection are waterfalls on the East Fork of the Hood River and 17 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat on the Collawash River.
The proposal would also create a network of Mount Hood National Recreation Areas that include the Gumjuwac Trail, Shellrock Mountain and Hellroaring Creek.
Smith and Wyden also said they would pursue separate legislation to designate part of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument outside Ashland as the Soda Mountain Wilderness, which conservation groups have been trying to achieve for 23 years, and organize a buyout of cattle ranchers grazing on the monument.