October 2, 2018 — This morning, on the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources advanced the Oregon Wildlands Act (S. 1548) sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). The legislation would designate approximately 108,000 acres of Wilderness in the Devil’s Staircase and Wild Rogue areas, protect 252 miles of river across Oregon as Wild and Scenic, and safeguard more than 119,000 acres of the Rogue and Molalla Rivers as National Recreation Areas. The legislation would also withdraw the famed Chetco River in southwest Oregon from mining.
