Larch Occasional Paper #11 February 2012 The National Wilderness Preservation System in Oregon: Making It Bigger and Better by Andy Kerr1 Abstract Compared to its four adjacent neighbors, Oregon has the smallest percentage of its lands designated as units of the National Wilderness Preservation System. While the average of the areas of the five states protected as wilderness is more than 9 percent, in Oregon less than 4 percent of the land is so protected. Oregon has 47 wilderness areas totaling 2,457,473 acres. Additional potential wilderness areas (a.k.a. roadless areas) in Oregon total more than 12 million acres, with approximately 61 percent of that area being generally tree-free (in the Oregon High Desert and other desert areas considered part of the sagebrush steppe) and the remainder generally forested. Congress should expeditiously expand the National Wilderness System in Oregon. Introduction Congress enacted the Wilderness Act, which established the National Wilderness Preservation System, in 1964: In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.2 Those areas of the National Forest System that had already been designated administratively by the Forest Service as either “wilderness” or “wild” areas were immediately included in the 1 Andy Kerr ([email protected]) is czar of The Larch Company (www.andykerr.net), which has offices in Ashland, Oregon, and Washington, DC. 2 Wilderness Act (P.L. 88-577), 16 U.S.C. 1131(a). The National Wilderness Preservation System in Oregon: Making It Bigger and Better Larch Occasional Paper #11 1 system.3 Over the years, Congress has seen fit to expand many of those original areas and to include additional areas as designated wilderness. This paper compares the percentage of Oregon designated as wilderness to its adjacent neighbors; summarizes Oregon wilderness areas by name, federal administrative unit, size, and other facts; and summarizes the amount of de facto wildlands in Oregon that could be added to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness is an anchor to windward. Knowing it is there, we can also know we are still a rich nation, tending to our resources as we should — not a people in despair searching every last nook and cranny of our land for a board of lumber, a barrel of oil, a blade of grass, or a tank of water. — Senator Clinton Anderson (D-NM) (principal sponsor of the first Wilderness Act) Figure 1. As of January 2009, Shellrock Lake is now safely within the Roaring River Wilderness on the Mount Hood National Forest. George Wuerthner Area of Oregon Wilderness Versus Wilderness in Adjacent States It’s rather embarrassing. California, sure. Washington, okay. But Nevada? Even Idaho!? Compared to its closest neighbors, Oregon has the smallest percentage of its lands designated as units of the National Wilderness Preservation System (see Table 1). 3 Ibid., 1131–1136. The National Wilderness Preservation System in Oregon: Making It Bigger and Better Larch Occasional Paper #11 2 Table 1. Comparison of the Area of Designated Wilderness in Oregon and Adjacent States4 State Total Land Wilderness Percentage Total Oregon Total Additional Area in Acres of Land Wilderness Acres Oregon Wilderness Acres Area Needed to Achieve Acres Needed to Reach Designated Percentage Parity Percentage Parity with as with Other States Other States Wilderness OREGON 62,163,840 2,457,473 3.95% Idaho 53,484,800 4,522,779 8.46% 5,256,696 2,799,223 California 104,765,440 15,000,292 14.32% 8,900,605 6,443,132 Washington 46,784,000 4,423,405 9.45% 5,877,562 3,420,089 Nevada 70,759,040 3,368,796 4.76% 2,959,584 502,111 Average 9.25% 5,748,611 3,291,138 The last column in Table 1 shows how many additional acres of wilderness Congress would need to designate in order for Oregon to achieve percentage parity with each of its neighbors. Fortunately, we have the wildland acres to do it — if we have the political will. I know just where those acres are.5 The West of which I speak is but another name for the Wild; and what I have been preparing to say is, that in Wildness lies the preservation of the World. — Henry David Thoreau Existing Oregon Wilderness Areas Table 2 lists existing Oregon wilderness areas by name, federal administrative unit(s), ecoregion, size, and year of establishment. The Size in Acres column represents the most accurate acreages available. The Notes column contains additional information highlighting the history of an area and/or interesting anomalies, as well as approximate acreage figures reflecting estimates at the time of designation as reference in the applicable statute. Congress enacted legislation pertaining to Oregon wilderness areas between 1964 and 2009: 1964 — Wilderness Act (P.L. 88-577), Sept. 3, 1964 1968 — Mount Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon (Act) (P.L. 90-548), Oct. 2, 1968 1970 — Public Lands — Wilderness Areas (Act) (P.L. 91-504), Oct. 23, 1970 1972 — Minam River Canyon Wilderness, Oregon (Act) (P.L. 92-521), Oct. 21, 1972 1975 — Hells Canyon National Recreation Area Act (P.L. 94-199), Dec. 31, 1975 1978a — Endangered American Wilderness Area Act (P.L. 95-237) (incorporated Oregon Omnibus Wilderness Act of 1978), Feb. 28, 1978 1978b — Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, The Arapaho National Recreation Area and the Oregon Islands Wilderness Area Act (P.L. 95-450), Oct. 11, 1978 1984 — Oregon Wilderness Act (P.L. 98-328), June 26, 1984 1996 — Oregon Resource Conservation Act (P.L. 104-208), Sept. 30, 1996; Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act (P.L. 104-333), Nov. 12, 1996.6 2000 — Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act (P.L. 106-399), Oct. 30, 2000 2009 — Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-11), March 30, 2009. 4 Primary sources: Land area of other states, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area; wilderness in other states, Wilderness.net (http://www.wilderness.net). 5 See “Additional Resources” at the end for the two books I’ve written on potential wilderness areas in Oregon. 6 Both 1996 laws contain identical language protecting Opal Creek Wilderness. In a rare occurrence, conservationists’ primary and backup legislative strategies both succeeded in Congress (involving attaching the Opal Creek language to two different bills), resulting in the area being “saved” twice. The National Wilderness Preservation System in Oregon: Making It Bigger and Better Larch Occasional Paper #11 3 Table 2. Oregon Wilderness Areas7 Name National Level III Size in Year Notes Forest, BLM Eco- Acres Estab- District, and/ region lished, Ex- or National panded Wildlife Refuge System Badger Mount Hood East 29,090 1984, 2009 Originally designated with Creek National Cascades approximately 25,000 acres. In 2009, Forest Slopes 1,135 acres were added to the core unit and and a 3,004-acre Bonnie Butte Unit was Foothills added. Black Ochoco Blue 13,400 1984 Canyon National Mountains Forest Boulder Umpqua Cascades 19,100 1984 Creek National Forest Bridge Ochoco Blue 5,400 1984 Creek National Mountains Forest Bull-of-the- Mount Hood Cascades 37,607 1984, 2009 Originally designated with Woods National approximately 33,900 acres. In 1996, Forest 7,466 acres on the Willamette National Forest was transferred into the Opal Creek Wilderness upon its establishment. See note for Opal Creek. Approximately 10,180 acres was added in 2009. Clackamas Mount Hood Cascades 9,470 2009 Includes five units: Big Bottom (1,263 National acres), Clackamas Canyon (1,247 acres), Forest Memaloose Lake (1,131 acres), Sisi Butte (3,243 acres), and South Fork Clackamas (2,579 acres) Copper Rogue River– Coast 13,700 2009 Salmon Siskiyou Range National Forest Cummins Siuslaw Coast 9,173 1984 Creek National Range Forest Diamond Deschutes, East 54,185 1964, 1984 Administratively established as a wild Peak Willamette Cascades area on February 5, 1957, at National Slopes approximately 35,440, with 15,700 acres Forests and added later. Foothills Drift Creek Siuslaw Coast 5,798 1984 National Range Forest 7 Additional primary sources include accompanying legislative history including committee reports, and Wilderness.net (http: www.wilderness.net). The National Wilderness Preservation System in Oregon: Making It Bigger and Better Larch Occasional Paper #11 4 Eagle Cap Wallowa- Blue 349,987 1964, 1972, Administratively established as a Whitman Mountains 1984 primitive area in 1930; administratively National designated as wilderness on October 7, Forest 1940, at approximately 216,250 acres. Later, 72,420 and 66,500 acres, respectively, were added. The 1972 addition, while a net gain, also resulted in 7,220 acres previously designated as wilderness being undesignated. The 1984 addition recovered 2,700 acres of the 7,220, thereby allowing Senator Hatfield to claim political credit for saving acres he had previously unsaved. The remaining 4,520 acres originally in the Eagle Cap Wilderness remain eligible for redesignation. Gearhart Fremont- East 22,809 1964, 1984 Administratively established as a wild Mountain Winema Cascades area on November 11, 1943, with National Slopes approximately 18,709 acres. Later, 4,100 Forest and acres added. Foothills Grassy Knob Rogue River– Coast 17,200 1984 Siskiyou Range National Forest Hells Wallowa- Blue 131,133 1975, 1984 Consists of 130,095 acres on the Canyon Whitman Mountains Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and National 1,038 acres on the Vale District of the Forest, Vale BLM.