A legislative rider in a budget proposal agreed upon by congressional leaders would block an administrative plan by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to make millions of acres in the West eligible for federal wilderness protection, but it isn't expected to impact the proposed 58,000-acre Zane Grey wilderness along the lower Rogue River.
The Zane Grey proposal, which received the blessing of a timber industry coalition last year, is likely to be championed from a member of Oregon's congressional delegation, said Erik Fernandez, wilderness coordinator for the Portland-based Oregon Wild conservation group.
"The Zane Grey proposal would be a result of congressional action, not administrative policy," he said. "The rider in Congress won't affect it directly."
He was referring to the budget package the House could vote on as early as today. Language in the legislative rider prohibits the Interior Department from spending money to implement Salazar's wilderness policy, which reverses a Bush-era policy opening millions of acres of federal lands in the West to commercial development. Salazar's plan called for restoring eligibility for wilderness protection to millions of acres of public lands.
However, Republican legislators complained the wilderness plan would circumvent Congress's authority while declaring vast areas of public land off-limits to oil-and-gas drilling. Salazar said the new policy is a common-sense solution that would help the agency better manage public lands. The plan was supported by conservation groups as well as recreation business owners.
Last spring, following months of negotiations with conservation activists, the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry coalition based in Portland, dropped its opposition to wilderness designation for the 58,000-acre Zane Grey tract immediately upstream from the Wild Rogue Wilderness in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. The Zane Grey roadless area, located on land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Medford District, is the largest proposed BLM wilderness area in southwestern Oregon.
Under the compromise, the proposal was reduced some 13,000 acres from the original, while cutting the Wild & Scenic Rivers protection from 143 miles of tributary streams to 93 miles and reducing stream buffers. The designation is intended to protect the valuable salmon and steelhead fishery in the watershed.
George Sexton, conservation director for the Ashland-based Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and a negotiator in the discussions, said Wednesday that the proposed wilderness area has broad support.
"The wild Rogue River is one of the most popular destinations in southwest Oregon," he said. "From city councils to county commissioners, you never hear any one say they are against protecting the world-class values of the lower Rogue."
He hopes that U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden or Jeff Merkley, both D-Oregon, or U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, will introduce a bill proposing the Zane Grey wilderness.
The Rogue River was one of the first rivers in the nation protected by the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. A decade later, Congress created the Wild Rogue Wilderness.
However, both Sexton and Fernandez expressed concern that Salazar's plan could be axed during the budget battle.
"It's frustrating that Congress is tacking anti-environmental riders onto a budget bill with no debate or option for anyone in Congress to drop this portion," Fernandez said. "This rider reinstates a policy that takes us back to the dark days of the Bush administration."
This blog information was reprinted from reporter Paul Fattig's newstory in the
Medford Mail Tribune. The Mail Tribune is southern Oregon's largest newspaper.
