This week House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) introduced HR 1581, The Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act, in a House Natural Resource Committee Hearing. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) has introduced a companion measure, S.1087, in the Senate.

H.R.1581 and S.1087 would remove protections from most of the 60 million acres of national forest roadless areas, as well as some of the most wild, scenic and ecologically significant holdings of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), known as Wilderness Study Areas.

These bills, presented under the guise that public land would be opened up to development and jobs, are an assault to our public lands. Read more about the impact of these bills at the Campaign for America's Wilderness website, the Nevada Wilderness Project website, and the Wilderness Society.

Please take a moment to send a letter or email opposing these bills (example letter below). Passage of the "Great Outdoors Giveaway" would impact 3.3 million acres of public land in Oregon, most of which is currently in Wilderness Study Areas or roadless areas.

Contact our Oregon delegation, and ask them to stand strong against these destructive bills:

Sen. Ron Wyden
Email: www.wyden.senate.gov/contact/
Phone: (202) 224-5244
Fax: (202) 228-2717
223 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3703


Sen. Jeff Merkley
Email: www.merkley.senate.gov/contact
phone:(202) 224-3753
Fax:(202) 228-3997
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C., 20510

Rep. Greg Walden
Email
Phone: 202-225-6730
Fax: 202-225-5774
2182 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Thank you for being a voice for protection of our public lands and the species that depend on them.

________________________________________________

Copy and paste this letter into an email to Oregon's legislators; personalize it, and it will be even stronger!

Dear [Sen. Wyden, Sen. Merkley, Rep. Walden]

I’m writing to ask that you please oppose The Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act (H.R. 1581), which would remove current protections for more than 60 million acres of public lands—impacting more than 3 million acres in Oregon.

This legislation would take away balanced protections that have been in place for decades, including those for our most pristine backcountry. America’s tradition of managing our lands on the “multiple use” principle would be upended. For example, we have a local, cooperative effort going on in Oregon to protect Cathedral Rock and Horse Heaven in the John Day region. This bill will take away local citizens’ ability to work with elected officials to decide how Oregon's public lands are managed.

Mining, logging and drilling are already allowed on more than half of our national forests and other public lands. This legislation proposes to open up most of the rest – putting drinking water at risk, compromising outdoor recreation and the billions of dollars in revenue it generates, damaging fish and wildlife habitat, and undoing years of work by lawmakers and diverse stakeholders to craft balanced land use proposals--just like we have done in Oregon for places like the Oregon Badlands Wilderness, Spring Basin Wilderness, and the iconic Steens Mountain.

Please don’t let this happen – oppose H.R. 1581, The Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act.

Sincerely [Your Name]