Oregon Owyhee Wilderness and Community Protection Act
Sponsored By: Representative Bentz
Introduced
Summary
Operational flexibility for local grazing permittees is the bill's central aim, creating a Malheur County Grazing Management Program to allow written variances and permit alternatives while also designating large wilderness and special management areas. It couples local governance and co-stewardship with targeted land protections and management tools.
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- Ranchers and grazing permittees would get faster, written variances for weather, drought, fire, or forage changes to adjust season of use, shift pasture rotations by up to 14 days, or move water sources within water‑right limits. Any approved variance would be immediately effective, final agency action, and not subject to NEPA.
- The Burns Paiute Tribe would receive specified lands into trust and a Castle Rock co-stewardship area of about 2,500 acres with a memorandum of understanding for joint management and protection of cultural and natural resources. The Tribe could cancel grazing in the co-stewardship area with compensation and would not obtain new water rights outside the conveyed lands.
- The bill would add about 924,440 acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System and create Special Management Areas of roughly 23,431 and 17,443 acres that ban new permanent roads and are withdrawn from many mining and leasing laws. The Secretary could use motorized equipment, aircraft, and pipelines for wildfire suppression and invasive species control and allow limited management actions in wilderness as described in the Act.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Quick grazing variances for ranchers
If enacted, authorized grazing permittees would be able to request immediate written variances to change grazing dates, pasture rotations, or move existing water structures for the year. Variances could shift season of use up to 14 days earlier or later, allow pasture rotation changes up to 14 days, and permit water-structure adjustments if they meet water-right law and a 100-yard road setback. Variances would take effect right away, be final agency actions, and would not be subject to the cited grazing regulations or NEPA. The Secretary would also have to adopt cooperative rangeland monitoring plans and, at a permittee's request, analyze at least one flexible alternative under NEPA when renewing permits.
Local restoration group and funding
If enacted, an 8-member Malheur C.E.O. Group would be created to propose and select local ecological, range, water, cultural, recreation, and economic projects. The Secretary would appoint members within 180 days and members would serve three-year terms. The group could hold donations in trust and recommend projects; Federal funding for eligible projects would be limited to 75% of total cost and non-Federal matching may be in-kind. Federal agencies must give written reasons within 14 business days if they decline a recommended project.
Tribal land transfers and exchanges
If enacted, the Secretary would seek an agreement with the Burns Paiute Tribe to co-manage the Castle Rock area and could enter management agreements with the Tribe. The Secretary would accept title to certain lands conveyed for the Tribe and hold them in trust, prepare a map, and try to complete a land-exchange deal with the State within 3 years. Private land inside the co-stewardship area could be exchanged for adjacent public land at a cooperating owner's request; the government would pay exchange costs and must finish exchanges within 24 months. If the Tribe cancels grazing on Trust Land, the Tribe would pay the market value of each cancelled AUM and fence and maintain the land at its expense; adjacent permittees would not be liable for drift if the Tribe fails to fence.
Protected management and wildfire control
If enacted, two Special Management Areas (Keeney Creek about 23,431 acres and Clark Ranch about 17,443 acres) would be created to protect livestock production, fire suppression, invasive species work, and Tribal cultural access. The areas would bar new permanent roads and new rights-of-way and be withdrawn, subject to valid existing rights, from many land disposal and mineral leasing laws. The Secretary would also be allowed to use vehicles, helicopters, and airplanes to fight wildfires and remove invasive species on the covered Federal lands. Vehicle and equipment use would be limited to existing roads or trails and only for listed management, emergency, or rangeland purposes.
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Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Bentz
OR • R
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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