Oregon's Best Chances for Owyhee Protections: Wyden's Bill, or a Monument

The end of one presidential term and the wait for the next one to commence is typically a tumultuous time. There are the announcements of the next administration’s cabinet picks, of course, and then there are the moves the outgoing president makes before exiting the building. The transition impacts aren’t limited to the hallowed halls of Washington, D.C., either.

In Oregon, one effect of the current lame-duck period is a heightened conversation around the Owyhee Canyonlands, sometimes known as Oregon’s Grand Canyon.

For years, environmental groups and Oregon’s long-serving Senator, Ron Wyden, have been at work on an Owyhee protection bill that brought together a host of strange bedfellows — ranchers, conservationists and Tribes, among others. That bill, which seeks to protect some 1.1 million acres of land in the Canyonlands, was an effort where everyone got something, but not everyone got everything — exactly what compromise looks like. The rationale for everyone involved is that the bill would be the best-possible outcome for the largest number of people. If it didn’t pass — and lots of things have not passed in recent times, with Congress locked in a battle of ideological wills — then the alternative could be to have President Joe Biden designate the area a national monument. Past presidents have made similar moves as they exit their office — something of a legacy for the outgoing president.

But then there’s Cliff Bentz.

Initially, Rep. Bentz, who represents the majority of the eastern part of the state, in Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District, didn’t want anything to do with this business. However, this fall, word began to emerge that Bentz was crafting his own version of an Owyhee protection bill. It seemed promising on its face to have a Republican Congressman come out in favor of something his Democratic Senate counterpart came up with. But environmental activists working for protection of the area have not been impressed.

“Unlike Senator Wyden, who has spent years working with the local community, conservation groups, ranchers, and other stakeholders, Representative Bentz has put forward a bill without any consensus building,” wrote Lindsey Scholten, the executive director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters in a press release from Protect the Owyhee Canyonlands. “I have serious doubts about his commitment to adequately protecting the Owyhee, which he has characterized as nothing special. We’ve seen this tactic of delay used by so many Republicans when they know they are out of step with what voters want. Representative Bentz is just using process to run out the clock until it is too late.”

Surprisingly, Wyden himself has been rather blasé about this new Bentz bill, saying in a statement that he looks forward to working together with Bentz on the legislation. But as some of those environmental activists told us, that sounds a whole lot like Wyden flying like a lame duck.

Wyden’s bill has the support of Oregon’s governor, invested Tribes and a host of other stakeholders. He’s worked for five years on a compromise that everyone could live with. Bentz seems confident he can get his version of a bill passed in Congress, but if that fails, it doesn’t have the backup plan that Wyden does: the national monument option. Now that we have a president who’s vacating the White House soon to make room again for Donald Trump, Biden might have some very good reasons to move in favor of more environmental protections on his way out.

Wyden should stand strong in fighting for his own bill instead of kowtowing to Bentz’s late-landing bill. If Wyden’s passes, great. If it doesn’t, we have the presidential monument designation to work with. But if Bentz’s fails, we get nothing.

This article appears in Source Weekly November 21, 2024.