JORDAN VALLEY, Oregon — The Owyhee Canyonlands in Oregon is a vast, rugged, and unique landscape. Protect the Owyhee hopes to get this land designated as a National Monument as legislation stalls in Congress.
Protect the Owyhee is made up of several conservation groups who are working to get protections in place, that includes Tim Davis who grew up in Adrian and founded Friends of the Owyhee.
"We are trying to protect this land from industrial development that could be power corridors that could be dune mines coming into the landscape," said Davis. "We want to keep this place wild for future generations."
In 2019, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden started working with conservation groups, anglers, recreation groups, tribal nations, ranchers and local businesses to draft up legislation to protect the Owyhee Canyonlands.
Currently, the only protections is the wild and scenic river designation for the Owyhee River, but that doesn't help the vast expanse from Leslie Gulch to Succor Creek and everything in between.
Wyden introduced the Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owyhee Act last June and it was co-sponsored by Oregon's other senator Jeff Merkely. This would protect more than a million acres of land by designating it as wilderness.
"Their proposal is working its way through the legislative process, but if Congress fails to act on that proposal we are asking the Biden Administration to take action," said Ryan Houston of the Oregon Natural Desert Association. "Protect the Owyhee Canyonlands as a National Monument based on the vision that Senator Wyden and Merkely have put together."
I have enjoyed exploring the rugged landscape, but it is always an adventure with no cell service, rough roads and precautions have to be taken because it would be really easy to get in trouble out there. The amount of cattle far exceeds the number of people.
Ranching is one of the biggest economic drivers in this region and they lease grazing land from the Bureau of Land Management. So my two biggest questions are if this land becomes a National Monument what happens with grazing and access for recreating in the area?
“Whether it becomes a wilderness area under the legislation or a National Monument under a presidential proclamation ranching and grazing will not change, both of those activities would be grandfathered," said Houston.
I learned that other activities would be grandfathered in, for example, if you had a mining claim you could continue to mine. Protect the Owyhee doesn't want anything to change, they want to prevent something from being built that would change the landscape.
"I know many ranchers and I wouldn’t be involved in this if I thought it would hurt Malheur County," said Davis. "It’s not removing ranching, it’s not removing access, it is making sure that what we have today stays here for the next 100 years as is."
Protect the Owyhee has garnered more than 20,000 signatures in support of this initiative, the group has taken trips to Washington D.C. to lobby for protections and they believe this unique landscape is worth fighting for.
"I mean it is the diversity of this landscape," said Davis. "We have these rugged rock canyons in this area and the volcanic activity in the northern part, you start going south and these basalt flows are just rolling hills with deep canyons. It is just incredibly diverse, full of history full and culture."
