By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
April 9, 2008

U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., will soon introduce a Mount Hood master plan that is nearly identical to a Senate version.

“Draft language is being worked on in the coming weeks for a bill, but a drop date has not yet been set,” said Erin Allweiss, communications director for Blumenauer.

The greatest difference between the new Oregon Treasures proposal and a bill introduced last year by U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., is the amount of added Wilderness. Blumenauer and DeFazio want another 132,000 acres added to the almost 190,000 acres of designated Wilderness. In the Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act of 2007. Wyden and Smith are seeking 125,000 more acres.

The House and Senate legislation will be evenly matched in the addition of almost 80 miles of new Wild and Scenic river protection. Both bills call for more than 34,000 acres of recreation areas to be set aside for mountain biking and other activities.

Oregon Treasures and the Lewis and Clark Act grant approval for the U.S. Forest Service to trade 120 acres near Government camp for 769 acres of Cooper Spur lands held by Mt. Hood Meadows Oregon LLC. The swap was part of a settlement agreement reached between the Hood River Valley Residents Committee and Meadows in 2005.

“The introduction of this bill, combined with the Senate bill, clears a path for Congress to act quickly and pass Oregon Wilderness legislation in 2008,” said Erik Fernandez, Wilderness coordinator for Oregon Wild.

The Senate bill recently ran into a roadblock on the way to its passage. U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., placed a “hold” on the legislation, which amounted to a one-person veto. The fiscal conservative, dubbed “Dr. No” by his peers, objected to any new federal expenditures until Congress restores “fiscal order.”

Wyden and Smith chose not to pursue a debate on the Lewis and Clark Act. They said the Senate needed to reserve that time for other pressing concerns, such as passage of the national farm bill.

There have been several other failed attempts in recent years to get an updated Mount Hood master plan in place.

In 2004, Wyden introduced the first Lewis and Clark Act that sought 177,000 more acres of Wilderness. He was unable to gain support from the Republican-controlled Congress to further restrict human activity within the national forest.

Blumenauer and U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., came close to getting a proposal through Congress in 2006. They gained bi-partisan support in both the Senate and House for a plan to increase Wilderness areas by 75,000 acres. The Mount Hood Stewardship Legacy Act sought to add 15 more miles to the Wild and Scenic River network. Also included was the land exchange between Meadows and the U.S. Forest Service.