In 2000, Congress told the Bureau of Land Management to remove a small, but fish-damaging, dam on the Donner und Blitzen Wild and Scenic River and in the Steens Mountain Wilderness. The BLM may finally get around to it.

The proposed River Democracy Act (RDA) would expand 42 existing wild and scenic rivers (WSRs) and establish 81 new wild and scenic rivers. All the proposed new and expanded components are listed at the end of this post.

This is the second part of a two-part series on the next wild and scenic rivers bill for Oregon. Part 1 focused on the nuts and bolts of what a wild and scenic river is, while Part 2 helps you nominate your favorite stream(s) for congressional consideration.

This is the second part of a two-part examination of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. In Part 2, we examine the possibilities of protecting additional wild and scenic rivers with a focus on Oregon, and closing a notorious mining loophole in the original act.

This is the first part of a two-part examination of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. In Part 1, we examine the history of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, the size of the system and how it works, and the outsized role Oregon has played in the development of the system.

The Chetco protection provision has yet to pass but has been reintroduced in various forms in every Congress since then. The freestanding bill or its legislative language has been included in sixteen pieces of congressional legislation since that time. Yet Congress still has not gotten its act together to save the Chetco from suction-dredge gold mining.

The federal government says Oregon has 110, 994 miles of streams. Most do not qualify for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System as they have been dammed, dewatered, ditched, denuded, and/or otherwise degraded, if not downright destroyed. Today, 2 percent of Oregon’s streams are in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.