Removing 832 Acres From a Wilderness Area in Oregon to Prevent Wildfire From Reaching an Adjacent Community (H.R. 2075)

What is H.R. 2075?

(Updated December 15, 2018)

This bill — the Crooked River Ranch Fire Protection Act — would require the Dept. of the Interior to adjust the eastern boundary of the Deschutes Canyon-Steelhead Falls Wilderness Study Area in Oregon to exclude 832 acres specified on an April 2017 map to facilitate fire prevention on those lands. Those activities would aim to protect the adjacent 5,500 resident community of Crooked River Ranch. These lands are classified in the highest risk category for wildfire due to overstocked juniper, but mechanical thinning (ie logging) of the juniper stands is currently prohibited because of its designation as a wilderness study area.

Argument in favor

This is a commonsense bill that’d allow crews to thin overstocked juniper that poses an extreme wildfire risk to the 5,500 resident community of Crooked River Ranch, Oregon by removing 832 acres from a wilderness area.

Argument opposed

This bill should at least make the remaining acreage a permanent wilderness area if it’s going to permanently remove 832 acres that’s currently protected. That’d allow for wildfire prevention and keep nearby lands as wilderness.

Impact

Crooked River Ranch residents; visitors to the wilderness area; and the Dept. of the Interior.

Cost of H.R. 2075

The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would have no significant effect on the federal budget.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) introduced this bill to protect Crooked River Ranch from wildfire:

“Passage of the Crooked River Ranch Fire Protection Act through the Resources Committee is really important. We all know fire is like in our environment in central Oregon. What we’re trying to do is move a government boundary back so that teams can get in and thin out the excess fuels that could result in catastrophe if fire ever came over the top into Crooked River Ranch.”

The local fire chief said the bill “has the potential to save lives and property at Crooked River Ranch” and added:

“With the current wilderness study area (WSA) boundary, practical firefighting and fire prevention activities are unavailable. The lack of fuel mitigation around Crooked River Ranch, due to wilderness restrictions codified in law, has created a dangerous environment and continues to threaten the people that live here… From a firefighting standpoint, Congressman Walden’s bill is appreciated and is simply commonsense.”

Some House Democrats expressed opposition to this bill on the grounds that it’d permanently remove the 832 acres form the wilderness study area without making the remaining acreage a  permanent wilderness area, but noted that striking that provision “would have been enough to garner bipartisan support.”

This legislation passed the House Natural Resources Committee on a 20-13 vote.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) Press Release
  
• CBO Cost Estimate
  
• Bend Bulletin
  
• KBND