A coalition of environmental groups has launched a campaign to persuade the Biden administration to designate Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands as a national monument by the end of 2024.
The area comprises over 2 million acres in southeast Oregon. With the Owyhee River flowing through the area, the river creates canyons of volcanic layers. Several plant species are endemic to the region, along with several species of wildlife in the salt-scrub ecosystem, according to Oregon Encylopedia, a project of the Oregon Historical Society. The Northern Paiute, Bannock and Shoshone Tribes occupied the area for a millennium until the North West Company fur trappers explored it in the winter of 1818-19.
The coalition, which includes the Wilderness Society, Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) and the Oregon chapter of the Sierra Club, among others, has formed Protect the Owyhee Canyonlands to assist in the passage of a bill introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
Senate Bill 1890, known as the Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owyhee Act, would establish a grazing management program for Malheur County and designate close to 1.1 million acres as wilderness areas.
Livestock grazing would be provided on federal lands and adjusted seasonally to achieve ecological health or avoid further ecological degradation of the allotment or allotment area. An exemption would be provided under the National Environmental Policy Act to provide flexibility in the changing conditions.
The bill gives the Burns-Paiute and Shoshone Tribes co-stewardship of the area by having a member of each Tribe on the Malheur C.E.O. Group, which would carry out the act. The legislation would also transfer the Jonesboro Ranch, Road Gulch and Black Canyon Land conveyances to be a part of the Burns Paiute Reservation.
According to the coalition, the bill has been introduced in previous sessions of Congress, and if it is not passed, they will try to convince President Joe Biden to designate the area as a monument.
“While all previous legislative attempts have failed to advance through Congress, President Biden can use Senators Wyden and Merkley’s recent proposal as a blueprint and secure the future of the Owyhee through national monument designation,” the announcement said.
The coalition continued that the Owyhee Canyonlands represent an excellent opportunity to meet Biden’s goal of preserving 30% of lands by 2030.
The Owyhee Sportsmen Coalition came out in support of the measure in June, and said it ensures the area’s resources are protected and balances multiple uses of the area.
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership also expressed its support. “Our organizations support the multiple uses of public land in this region and recognize that good stewardship means sustainable ranching, wildlife habitat management, public access, and meaningful resource conservation,” said Michael O’Casey, deputy director of the Pacific Northwest region for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
“Our goal is passage of legislation that supports rural economies, respects local interests, protects and restores the ecological health of the Owyhee landscape, and ensures that our hunting and angling traditions continue for generations,” he continued.
Designation history
The idea of designating the Owyhee Canyonlands as wilderness was first proposed by ONDA. The measure gained momentum when Portland-based Keen Footwear launched a campaign in June 2015 to designate five areas the company thought deserved protection, and the Owyhee Canyonlands was among them. Keen traveled cross-country to collect 100,000 signatures, hoping that then-President Barack Obama would declare the area a national monument under the Antiquities Act.
Three of the five areas in the petition—Mojave Desert, CA; Boulder-White Clouds, ID; and Gold Butte, NV—were designated as monuments by Obama before leaving office.
The proposal drew fire from ranchers, landowners and others in Malheur County.
According to the Statesman Journal, an advisory vote was soundly defeated by voters in March 2016, with 5,666 voters opposed and 633 voters in favor, just one month after the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge ended.
According to the Huffington Post, Wyden mediated between ranchers and environmentalists in 2019 to strike a deal on managing the area. The two groups, along with the area Tribes, struck a deal that formed the Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owyhee Act.
“The nature of compromise means that you’re trying new and somewhat uncomfortable approaches,” Corie Harlan, an environmental conservationist with ODNA, told the Huffington Post. “These are groups that were going toe-to-toe three years ago. We think that trying is a better path forward than the gridlock we’ve experienced.”
The bill was initially introduced by Wyden in November 2019 and stalled in Congress. The bill was reintroduced in 2020, 2022 and again this year.
The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
