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Oregon Republican, Democrat outline bill expanding wilderness
BY JOSEPH B. FRAZIER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND -- Two Oregon congressmen, one a Republican and one a Democrat, outlined a bill Tuesday that would add 77,500 acres of wilderness in about a dozen parcels in the shadow of Mount Hood, the state's tallest mountain.
Republican Greg Walden said he thought the bill could be ready for a House vote by Memorial Day.
It would be Oregon's first wilderness area expansion in five years and the first in the 1.1 million-acre Mount Hood National Forest since 1984.
He and Democrat Earl Blumenauer said the bill follows three years of meetings, negotiations and even a four-day, 41-mile hike last year that the two took around Mount Hood, whose snowy slopes are visible from this city.
Blumenauer said the bill balances fragile ecosystems with improved cultural, recreation and transportation uses.
The two congressmen said they had been working with members of both houses and felt good about the bill's chances.
"But I want to put it in perspective," Walden said. "In the last three years, the House Resources Committee has only approved five wilderness bills. Only three of those have been so-called forested wilderness bills. This is seven times the amount of wilderness as any of those."
"This is a bit of a heavy lift on my side of the aisle," the Republican said.
So he said he and Blumenauer were careful to write a bill with broad support.
In 2004 Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced a bill that would have set aside 177,000 acres of additional wilderness, but it stalled in Congress.
"We are very pleased that Walden and Blumenaeur have followed up on that momentum," Wyden's chief of staff, Josh Kardon, said Tuesday.
He said Wyden has been in contact with Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and would add a Senate bill this year.
The bill removes the proposed new wilderness from logging possibilities but does not remove land already authorized for cutting. It also mandates a 10-year U.S. Forest Service plan to thin and otherwise care for forest areas in need of attention.
Tom Patin of the American Forest Resource Council, which represents nearly 90 forest products companies, said his group was not in agreement with all of the acreage removed from logging potential but supports the bill.
Ken Rait, campaigns director for the Campaigns for America's Wilderness, called the bill "an historic step forward, not only for Oregonians but for Americans who have a stake in our precious national forests."
The Sierra Club also applauded the measure.
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BY JOSEPH B. FRAZIER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND -- Two Oregon congressmen, one a Republican and one a Democrat, outlined a bill Tuesday that would add 77,500 acres of wilderness in about a dozen parcels in the shadow of Mount Hood, the state's tallest mountain.
Republican Greg Walden said he thought the bill could be ready for a House vote by Memorial Day.
It would be Oregon's first wilderness area expansion in five years and the first in the 1.1 million-acre Mount Hood National Forest since 1984.
He and Democrat Earl Blumenauer said the bill follows three years of meetings, negotiations and even a four-day, 41-mile hike last year that the two took around Mount Hood, whose snowy slopes are visible from this city.
Blumenauer said the bill balances fragile ecosystems with improved cultural, recreation and transportation uses.
The two congressmen said they had been working with members of both houses and felt good about the bill's chances.
"But I want to put it in perspective," Walden said. "In the last three years, the House Resources Committee has only approved five wilderness bills. Only three of those have been so-called forested wilderness bills. This is seven times the amount of wilderness as any of those."
"This is a bit of a heavy lift on my side of the aisle," the Republican said.
So he said he and Blumenauer were careful to write a bill with broad support.
In 2004 Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced a bill that would have set aside 177,000 acres of additional wilderness, but it stalled in Congress.
"We are very pleased that Walden and Blumenaeur have followed up on that momentum," Wyden's chief of staff, Josh Kardon, said Tuesday.
He said Wyden has been in contact with Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and would add a Senate bill this year.
The bill removes the proposed new wilderness from logging possibilities but does not remove land already authorized for cutting. It also mandates a 10-year U.S. Forest Service plan to thin and otherwise care for forest areas in need of attention.
Tom Patin of the American Forest Resource Council, which represents nearly 90 forest products companies, said his group was not in agreement with all of the acreage removed from logging potential but supports the bill.
Ken Rait, campaigns director for the Campaigns for America's Wilderness, called the bill "an historic step forward, not only for Oregonians but for Americans who have a stake in our precious national forests."
The Sierra Club also applauded the measure.
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