Wilderness

Ruby Pipeline: $22 Million For Conservation in Oregon and The West

July 15, 2010
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The Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge in Oregon. From Wikimedia Commons. Photographer unidentified.

The company behind Oregon’s newest natural gas pipeline will donate at least $22 million for conservation projects in our state and across the West.

It’s the result of a three-way deal between the Oregon Natural Desert Association, Western Watersheds Project and El Paso Corp. The money will be used to undo some of the environmental damage that results from building the Ruby pipeline, and to preserve sagebrush habitat.

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Oregon Wilderness Bills Win Key Vote, Next Stop Senate Floor

June 22, 2010
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A scene along Wassen Creek in the Devil's Staircase area. Photo by Kristian Skybak. For more see http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristiansven

Update: Adding Press Release by Cascadia Wildlands

A bill to protect the Devil’s Staircase, and another that expands the Oregon Caves National Monument, have been approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The vote is a “milestone” according to Senators Wyden and Merkley. The bills now go before the full Senate for consideration.

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Alert: Meeting Wednesday On Protecting Southeast Oregon’s Natural Areas

June 2, 2010
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Late notice, I know. I just got word of this a short while ago.

If you’re in the Portland area you may want to attend a meeting this evening on a new management plan for BLM land in Southeast Oregon.

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Oregon’s Chetco River On “Most Endangered List”

June 2, 2010
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The Chetco River in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Photo by Lee Webb, U.S. Forest Service.

Plans for a huge gold mining operation has put the Chetco River in Southern Oregon on this year’s “Most Endangered Rivers” list.

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Roadless Areas Protected For Another Year

May 28, 2010
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Some 50-million acres of our country’s wildest places will be protected for at least another year.

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Senate Hearing On New Oregon Wilderness

April 21, 2010
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Cathedral Rock along the John Day River. Photo from the National Park Service.

It looks like the Wyden-Merkley bill creating a new Wilderness Area in Eastern Oregon finally gets a hearing this morning.

The Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests will take testimony starting at 11:30am Pacfic time.  The hearing will be streamed live.

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New Oregon Wilderness Bill Goes Before Senate Tuesday

March 22, 2010
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Cathedral Rock along the John Day River. Photo from the National Park Service.

UPDATE: Hearing has been cancelled for today. We haven’t heard when it will be rescheduled.

A bill to create 16,000 new acres of wilderness in Eastern Oregon gets a Senate hearing Tuesday morning.

Called the “Cathedral Rock and Horse Heaven Wilderness Act of 2010″, the bill arranges a land swap between private landowners and the Bureau of Land Management. The result is two large continuous tracts of land that can be preserved as wilderness.

That includes land near the town of Antelope that was once home to followers of Bagwhan Shree Rajneesh. These days it belongs to Young Life, a Christian youth group.

Senator Wyden sponsored the bill and will chair the hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Pubic Lands and Forests.

Click on this link if you want to follow the hearing online. It’s expected to start about 11:30am Pacific time.

Your Afternoon Coffee Break: Wyden and DeFazio Take A Hike

February 26, 2010
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Maybe it’s because my mind is fried from all the research I’m working on today, but this video from Oregon Wild is pretty amusing. It’s done Jib Jab style, with cartoon figures of Senator Wyden and Representative DeFazio hiking through the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness.

Wyden and DeFazio introduced legislation to protect the area last year, but the bill has languished on the sidelines as Congress has focused on other issues. Oregon Wild is leading a petition drive to remind them that Oregonians are still paying attention to the Devil’s Staircase and want to see the legislation passed.

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Land Swap Will Add Another 16,000 Acres Of Wilderness To Oregon

January 28, 2010
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Cathedral Rock along the John Day River. Photo from the National Park Service.

Oregon’s Senators are introducing a bill that would protect another 16,000 acres of wilderness in Oregon.

Called the “Cathedral Rock and Horse Heaven Wilderness Act of 2010″, the bill arranges a land swap between private landowners and the Bureau of Land Management. The result is two large continuous tracts of land that can be preserved as wilderness.

Read more »

Wilderness Bill Wins Praise And Concerns

March 26, 2009
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Considering how important the new Wilderness Bill is to Oregon, it’s surprising to see that today’s coverage in newspapers around the state is low key. While the Oregonian gave it front page prominence, most of the other papers we check seemed satisfied to run a wire service version of the story, or hardly mentioned it at all.

But there are two exceptions.

The bill adds 127,000 acres of wilderness around Mt. Hood.

The bill adds 127,000 acres of wilderness around Mt. Hood and more than 200,000 acres in the state.

The Bend Bulletin plays up the postive reaction with a headline that simply says, “Good News For The Badlands.” The bill creates a 30,000 acre wilderness in the Badlands area east of Bend. The favorable reaction includes comments from the Oregon Natural Desert Association which says it’s important to preserve wilderness close to the city because that’s what draws people to Central Oregon.

But some of the coverage in the Medford Mail Tribune focuses on how the bill will impact local ranchers. Their reporter interviewed a rancher who’s family has been grazing cattle in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument for more than 50 years. The bill creates the 23,000 acre Soda Mountain Wilderness within the monument and rancher Bob Miller will lose his grazing rights after the bill becomes law.  He tells the paper he’s relieved to get this behind him.