Wallowa County Chieftain News wallowa.com Wilderness designation opposition strengthens By Kathleen Ellyn Wallowa County Chieftain Wallowa County Com- missioners have added their protest to that of State Rep- UHVHQWDWLYH *UHJ :DOGHQ DQG county courts from 13 other 2UHJRQ FRXQWLHV ² SURWHVW- LQJ WKH PRYH E\ WKH 2UHJRQ Natural Desert Association to carve off 2.5 million acres of Malheur County as a wilder- ness area. That area, Walden VDLG LV ³ODUJHU WKDQ WKH VWDWHV of Rhode Island and Connecti- FXWFRPELQHG´ The county encompasses 6.5 million acres. The Owyhee Canyonlands Conservation Proposal would set aside both lands and hun- dreds of miles of wild and scenic rivers in a county that already has 4.5 million acres (73 percent of the land in the county) under federal man- DJHPHQW Malheur County Soil and Water Conservation District 0DQDJHU /LQGD 5RZH ZKR opposes the monument pro- posal, said that 2.5 million DFUHVZRXOGHTXDOSHUFHQW of the county. Once federal lands are converted to special use lands, such as National Monument, Wilderness Area, National Conservation Area, they permanently lose multi- SOHXVHSURYLVLRQV±LQFOXGLQJ JUD]LQJULJKWV Malhuer County is Ore- JRQ¶V 1R FDWWOH SURGXFLQJ FRXQW\$FFRUGLQJ WR 2UHJRQ 6WDWH 8QLYHUVLW\ DJULFXOWXUH JHQHUDWHV RYHU PLOOLRQ annually in the county, of ZKLFK PLOOLRQ FRPHV from cattle. $FFRUGLQJ WR 6HUJLR $ULVSHDOLYHVWRFNDQGUDQJH- ODQG DJHQW DW 2UHJRQ 6WDWH 8QLYHUVLW\¶V 0DOKHXU &RXQW\ ([WHQVLRQ RI¿FH ORFNLQJ XS that much land would elimi- nate about 33 percent of the FRXQW\¶VWRWDOJUD]LQJODQG If the county’s economi- cally vital cattle industry was devastated by such a conver- sion, a lot of hay, corn and oth- HU JUDLQV ZRXOGQ¶W EH JURZQ here (either), Rowe said. Malheur County Cattle- men’s Association President Chris Christensen was blunt: a PRQXPHQWGHVLJQDWLRQ³ZRXOG destroy the community and the EXVLQHVV RI DJULFXOWXUH DV LW¶V EHLQJ GRQH LQ WKLV DUHD ULJKW QRZ´&KULVWHQVHQVDLG³,IWKLV WKLQJ FRPHV WR SDVV LW ZRXOG KDYH D GHYDVWDWLQJ HIIHFW RQ WKH UDQFKLQJ FRPPXQLW\ DQG DJULFXOWXUHLQ0DOKHXU&RXQW\ $Q\ERG\ LQYROYHG LQ DJULFXO- ture in Malheur County isn’t JRLQJ WR EH LQ IDYRU RI WKLV WKLQJ´ 2UHJRQ1DWXUDO'HVHUW$V- sociation (ONDA), which is OHDGLQJ WKH PRQXPHQW HIIRUW says the proposal would “al- ORZZRUNLQJIDUPVDQGUDQFK- HVWRFRQWLQXHWRRSHUDWH´ %XW -RUGDQ 9DOOH\ UDQFKHU %RE6NLQQHUIRUPHUSUHVLGHQW RIWKH2UHJRQ&DWWOHPHQ¶V$V- sociation, said area residents believe the opposite would happen. “There are cattle every- ZKHUHRXWWKHUH´6NLQQHUVDLG “If you take cattle out of (this) economy, you have decimated WKHHFRQRP\,WZRXOGFKDQJH our way of life. Not only farm- ers and ranchers, but every- body around here is up in arms DERXWLW´ 21'$ DQG RWKHU UHJLRQ- al and national conservation JURXSV DQG EXVLQHVVHV DUH JDWKHULQJ VLJQDWXUHV WR EDFN WKHLUHIIRUW$FFRUGLQJWR21- DA’s web site, “a variety of OHJLVODWLYH DQG DGPLQLVWUDWLYH RSWLRQVDUHEHLQJFRQVLGHUHG to permanently protect this SODFH´ $FFRUGLQJ WR D QHZV UH- OHDVH IURP 5HS &OLII %HQW] R-Ontario, it is anticipated WKHJURXSVDUHSODQQLQJWRDVN 3UHVLGHQW %DUDFN 2EDPD WR use his power under the An- WLTXLWLHV $FW WR GHVLJQDWH WKH land as a national monument, wilderness area or national conservation area. Wallowa County Commis- sioners unanimously approved a resolution in opposition to the proposal in September, MRLQLQJ /DNH 0DULRQ *UDQW Lincoln, Wheeler, Columbia, Harney, Deschutes, Tillamook, %DNHU8QLRQ/LQQDQG