Western Larch, © George Wuerthner
You are visiting
Andy Kerr's Oregon Desert Index Page
Denzel and Nancy Ferguson |
|
See also Wilderness , Sagebrush Sea, Grazing, Livestock, or my book Oregon Desert Guide. Desert Wilderness and Other Protection Oregon conservationists are proposing 7.2 million acres to be permanently protected for this and future generations by designation as Wilderness (6.2 million acres) or national monuments, national wildlife refuges, national conservation areas and wild and scenic rivers. While conservationists are united in the amount of wilderness and other special areas they want protected, they split into to camps over one major issue: How to end livestock grazing in Wilderness. There is unanimity within the Oregon conservation community (ok, not the Izzac Walton League of America, but their numbers are falling and they are increasingly irrelevant) that livestock grazing must end in the Wilderness System. The two camps divide on the issue of voluntary retirement versus mandatory retirement. In my view, conservationists will get more livestock off the public lands sooner if we support primarily (but not exclusively) a program of voluntary versus mandatory retirement. Click for a fuller explanation of my reasoning on voluntary versus mandatory public land grazing permit retirement. Politics is not geometry: the shortest distance between two points is never a straight line. Click for a legal history of grazing in the National Wilderness Preservation System and National Park System, co-authored with Mark Salvo of American Lands. For more on how to end livestock grazing on the public lands go to Livestock Grazing. Oregon Desert Conservation Act The Oregon Chapter Sierra Club's High Desert Committee, Audubon Society of Portland, The Larch Company, and others are supporting the Oregon Desert Conservation Act. They've drafted legislation. Click for a detailed acreage summary by area. The legislation has yet to be introduced. The other camp favors the Oregon High Desert Protection Act. It has the same acreage and boundaries, but with a mandatory, rather than voluntary, phase-out of livestock grazing in Wilderness. Both legislative proposals (ODCA and OHDPA) provide for the mandatory phase-out of livestock grazing in national monuments, national wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers, and national conservation areas. It's time to replace the Bureau of Land Management suggests new name and mission for the BLM. Increase supply to alleviate wilderness shortage suggests increasing supply to meet demand. Sage Grouse: The Spotted Owl of the Desert. The title is explanation enough. Changes in the Desert Wind was perhaps the first piece I published about the Oregon Desert. It was published in Seriatim: The Journal of Ecotopia. American Lands is developing a major effort to protect, conserve and restore the sagebrush country of Western America. Oregon Natural Desert Association is the premier organization dedicated to the conservation of the Oregon Desert. Audubon Society of Portland has a long history of involvement to conserve the Oregon Desert. Oregon Chapter Sierra Club has a very active High Desert Committee. |