Badlands bill clears its biggest challenge

By Keith Chu, The Bulletin

The Badlands Wilderness and four other Oregon wilderness areas overcame their biggest Congressional hurdle on Thursday, when they passed the U.S. Senate, 73-21, as part of a sprawling package of public lands bills.

The bill now goes to the U.S. House, where a spokeswoman for Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.V., said the bill will skip the committee process and move to a vote by the end of this month.

After he left the Senate floor, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden raised his fist and grinned in celebration.

“I think this sends the message that at a time when there’s cynicism and frustration about government, Oregonians can come together, and something special has happened as a result,” Wyden said.

Throughout last year, the Senate had been a graveyard for the package’s more than 160 individual bills, as Democratic leaders repeatedly failed to overcome procedural roadblocks put in place by Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, who objected to the bills’ potential cost.

But the arrival of a larger Democratic majority this year allowed the measure to move forward, following a handful of procedural votes.

“Obviously, there was enormous frustration through much of that time because you thought you dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s, and met with various organizations, and you still couldn’t move forward,” Wyden said.

The Oregon Natural Desert Association began pushing for a Badlands wilderness in January 2002, said former Executive Director Bill Marlett.

Things took a little longer than the group had first planned.

“In the beginning, we thought it was kind of a slam- dunk,” Marlett said. “But little did we know, things kept popping up.”

New mining, pipelines, roads and other developments are banned in wilderness areas, but hiking, hunting and existing grazing allotments are allowed under federal law.

The Badlands Wilderness comprises about 30,000 acres of High Desert and provides habitat for yellow-bellied marmots, bobcat, mule deer, elk and pronghorn, according to the Bureau of Land Management.

“There are not many communities in the West that can say they’ve got a wilderness in their own backyards,” Marlett said.

Current ONDA Executive Director Brent Fenty said the bill appears headed for speedy passage in the House.

“We’re ecstatic; this is great news,” Fenty said. “We’re very optimistic about the bill getting over to the House and being passed quickly, and being one of the first bills the new president signs into law.”

Oregon’s junior senator, Democrat Jeff Merkley, also celebrated the bill’s passage after leaving the Senate floor.

“It really helps assist in the building of wilderness areas in multiple parts of the state,” Merkley said.

Elsewhere in Central Oregon, the bill also creates an 8,600-acre Spring Basin Wilderness Area near the John Day River, south of Clarno.

Of the five new Oregon wilderness areas the bill creates, the biggest is nearly 127,000 acres, at Mount Hood.