The Owyhee Canyonlands in southeastern Oregon is known as Oregon’s Grand Canyon. (Courtesy of Center for Western Priorities)
Instead of implementing meaningful protections for the Oregon side of the Owyhee Canyonlands, politicians have missed the opportunity to take effective action to protect this stunning area in southeast Oregon.
Two bills introduced into Congress to protect the area, known as Oregon’s Grand Canyon, are shaped more by efforts to appease the livestock industry than by a commitment to conservation. They fall short of what’s needed to protect the area. But President Joe Biden could consider protecting the area by giving it a national monument designation, something that Gov. Tina Kotek recently asked for again.
The “Malheur CEO Act,” or “Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owyhee Act,” which was first introduced by Oregon’s U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley in 2019, aims to designate over 1.1 million acres in the Owyhee Canyonlands in southeast Oregon as federal wilderness, appease public lands ranching interests and expand recreation opportunities. But it is hung up in Congress despite Wyden’s recent last-ditch efforts to get it over the finish line before the end of Biden’s term.
Sensing a political opening, U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, who represents eastern Oregon in Congress, introduced the “Oregon Owyhee Wilderness and Community Protection Act” last month, with the primary objective of putting ranching above other interests on Owyhee public lands. His bill, along with a slew of other livestock-related legislation, got a hearing in the House Committee on Natural Resources in mid-November.
Conservationists have raised the alarm about Bentz’s bill, which proposes fewer wilderness acres in the Owyhee Canyonlands, entrenches and prioritizes livestock grazing over conservation and waters down ecological objectives. It is a livestock industry giveaway in one of the most spectacular and wild landscapes left unprotected in the western U.S. Bentz’s bill also does not have tribal support.
Bentz’s legislation allows for “flexible” grazing practices and would let ranchers drive motor vehicles into wilderness areas, lands traditionally off-limits to motorized use to protect wilderness values. It is always highly suspect when an extractive industry like ranching supports wilderness designations. This land protection measure is supposed to restrict and limit extraction, not enable it. Furthermore, its cooperative monitoring and project funding provisions would give ranchers excessive influence in land management as well as monetary handouts, decidedly shifting the focus from conservation to grazing interests.
The bottom line is both Bentz’s and the Senate bills are heavily weighted toward industry and do not serve the interests of the American people, who value public lands for hunting and fishing opportunities, wildlife and wildness.
Wyden could do the right thing and consider throwing his support behind the designation of an Owyhee Canyonlands National Monument, letting Biden know such a move would align with the values of the American people. The senator has worked for years to protect the Owyhee Canyonlands and it would be a shame to let this opportunity slip through the cracks.
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