McElligott: Speak up about River Democracy Act

In May, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association asked for the maps and then they asked again in November. As of this writing, we still don’t have the maps from Wyden’s office.

I know of two counties in Eastern Oregon that have at their own expense, hired an engineering firm to map the coordinates in the act in order to have a visual map of the affected streams. These visual maps give the county a picture of how this act will impact them.

It is unconscionable that any county government should have to spend money from its general fund to map these streams when information should be available upon request from Senator Wyden or Merkley. Yet, they continue to ignore the requests. How will this affect livestock grazing and other natural resource users?

This act talks a lot about fire resiliency, but supplies no details as to how locking up 3.1 million acres of federal land will reduce threat of fire to land, lumber and lives. What will the long-term economic effect of this bill have on rural Oregon?

Wyden and his team expound on the great benefits of tourism and the dollars spent on recreation. That’s the well-polished sales pitch and talking points pounded into their heads at staff meetings. When hikers, bikers and ATVers visit rural Oregon most of them bring their own tents, campers, or RV’s. They fill their coolers and gas tanks at home and don’t spend much in the small towns they drive through.

Wyden’s bill has a $30 million price tag. Not just for the first year but every year — forever. Only $5 million of that is earmarked. What is the other $25 million for? They haven’t answered that one either.

The original intent of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was to preserve certain rivers with “outstanding, natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition.” This act as presented is a vast departure from the original Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. If this act passes into law, it will set grave precedent that will enable law makers to circumvent protocol and procedures. Our Senators were elected to represent all Oregonians, not a select demographic.

Please take the time to look up SB 192. If you don’t like what you see, if you don’t want another 4,700 miles of streams and 3.1 million acres of Oregon locked up, reach out to Oregon’s senators and let them know.

— Matt McElligott is president elect of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association.