Rural Oregon & Natural Resources

Senator Wyden has made a career of seeking consensus among environmentalists and natural resource businesses, engendering a greater mutual respect for the environment. Wyden is a climate champion, working hard in the Senate to develop comprehensive solutions to tackle the climate crisis and protect our natural spaces for generations to come.

Wyden’s record has resulted in saving endangered species and Oregon’s special places. In Oregon, Wyden helped expand wilderness protections for Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge, Copper Salmon, the Oregon Badlands, Spring Basin, and the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The addition of 1,986 miles of Oregon rivers to the Wild and Scenic Rivers system means Oregon now has the most wild-and-scenic river designations in the continuous United States.

Senator Wyden has worked to protect pristine waters in southwestern Oregon from dangerous nickel mining, and to protect the livelihoods of ranchers in Eastern Oregon from hazardous uranium mining. Wyden has taken the lead in protecting old-growth forests and has advocated reform of federal government land management practices. He believes that extractive industries such as oil and coal should pay for all of the costs they impose on public lands and that American taxpayers should get a fair return on commonly held natural resources.

During his tenure, Senator Wyden has been a leader in supporting the collaborative process for land management in rural Oregon, from the collaborative sage grouse habitat conservation plans that prevented a listing of the Greater Sage Grouse to the establishment of a 10 Year Stewardship contract that saved one of the last sawmills in eastern Oregon. In 2019, after months of collaboration with local ranchers, environmental groups, local and state universities, Ron introduced legislation to provide Masher County several economic development opportunities by maintaining and improving rangeland to support local ranchers and protecting the Owyhee River Canyonlands and surrounding area for recreation and wildlife habitat.

In 2008 Senator Wyden won passage of the Combat Illegal Logging law that is having a real effect on the survival of endangered forests around the world by cutting off the market for illegal timber.

The Climate Crisis  

Senator Wyden believes that the climate emergency is one of the biggest, most pressing crises facing our world today that demands urgent action. He is a climate champion, working hard in the Senate to overhaul our tax code to incentivize clean energy and end reliance on dirty fossil fuels.

In 2022 under the Inflation Reduction Act, the Senate passed Wyden’s Clean Energy for America Act – the most consequential climate legislation of our lifetime – which will incentivize investment in clean energy, lower energy costs for families, and create good-paying clean energy jobs on American soil. Passage of Wyden’s landmark bill will result in an estimated 40 percent in carbon emission reduction by 2030.


Wyden has also introduced legislation to support innovative farming and ranching techniques that both reduce carbon and make our crops and grasslands more climate resilient.


Wyden is also a cosponsor of the Green New Deal. 
Agriculture  

Oregon is known worldwide for growing some of the finest trees, produce, nuts, grasses, cattle and seeds -- and this great reputation is thanks to the hard work and dedication of Oregon’s farmers. Ron led the fight to legalize industrial hemp for cultivation purposes in the 2018 Farm Bill. He continues to advocate for Oregon farmers as the federal government implements the new law.

Senator Wyden has advocated for farm-to-school programs, like the one he got included in the 2014 Farm Bill that connects local farmers directly with area schools. He also worked to support grant funding for gleaners - the people who collect edible, surplus foods that would otherwise go to waste and distribute it to those in need.

Senator Wyden’s strong support of collaboration led to conservation plans, collaborative water management efforts and tribal land restoration in the Klamath Basin aimed at preserving water for fish and farmers and protecting traditional land uses that help drive rural economies. Wyden helped secure $162 million in funding for Klamath habitat restoration work through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
Forestry  

Oregon was built with the help of healthy forests and a thriving timber industry, but today, the increased threat of catastrophic wildfires endangers homes, lives, and crucial forests. Senator Wyden successfully modernized how the U.S. Forest Service pays for fighting wildfires when Congress passed his provision in 2018 that ended the outdated federal funding system that for years underfunded wildfire suppression and forced the Forest Service to "fire borrow" -- rob -- fire prevention funds to extinguish the flames.

In 2021, Wyden helped secure $6 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for wildfire risk mitigation and forest health treatments. Ensuring the Forest Service has the funding it needs for prevention work will reduce the changes that catastrophic fires burn through rural Oregon communities. He is also a fierce advocate for the health and well-being of wildland firefighters, working to ensure these brave workers get the pay and benefits they deserve.

Senator Wyden also believes the Bureau of Land Management can better manage Oregon’s unique O&C lands, and has written legislation to expand O&C conservation protections while sustainably increasing O&C timber harvests by more than 200 percent per year for 50 years.

In order to save the last sawmill in John Day, he successfully led a process to provide resources, including a 10-year stewardship contract, for an eastside forest resulting in an increased and sustainable timber harvest.
Clean Air and Water  

Oregonians deserve clean water, a safe environment, and protection from toxic chemicals and industrial waste. In order to ensure clean  drinking water for more than 800,000 people in the Portland area, Senator Wyden passed an amendment to Senator Hatfield’s Oregon Resources Conservation Act in 1996 to protect a 100-square-mile area around the Bull Run Reservoir.  In 2001, Wyden introduced a bill that added nearly 3,000 acres of the Little Sandy Watershed to the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit, which increased the size of Portland’s protected watershed.  

Wyden has championed the designation of 1,986 miles of wild-and-scenic rivers in Oregon -- more than any other member of Congress for the contiguous 48 states. Oregon has the most-wild-and-scenic river designations in the contiguous United States.

When U.S. Forest Service scientists discovered alarming hot spots of arsenic and cadmium in the air in Southeast Portland, Senator Wyden discovered there was a regulatory gap that allowed unhealthy levels of heavy metal pollution to be released into the air.  Wyden called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require pollution controls on the furnaces and smokestacks, and to closely monitor the Portland air until it was safe for residents to breathe.  

Senator Wyden has worked with the EPA, the State of Oregon, the City of Portland, the Port of Portland, tribal governments, and other stakeholders to support cleanup of the Willamette River Superfund Site. Senator Wyden continues to work with local stakeholders to ensure the river is cleaned up thoroughly.
County Payments  

In 1999, Senator Wyden teamed up with Republican Senator Larry Craig to author the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, commonly known as the “county payments” law.  The law honors the federal government’s historic commitment to rural communities where the federal government holds land, establishing a payment formula for counties that had previously received revenue-sharing payments from U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands. Since Wyden got the law passed in October 2000, the program has brought more than $3.1 billion dollars to Oregon counties -- to keep teachers in classrooms, sheriffs on the job and roads in good repair.

Widen secured a one-year extension of the program in 2007 and then fought for and won a four-year re-authorization of the program in 2008. Since then, he has secured extensions of the program and is working to end the cycle of uncertainty for the program. He introduced the bipartisan Forest Management for Rural Stability Act to provide financial stability to the Secure Rural Schools program by making it permanent and creating an endowment fund to provide stable, increasing and reliable funding for county services.
Energy  

As a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Wyden pushes for a national energy policy that focuses on renewable energy production, low-cost energy storage, and a tax code that promotes low carbon energy  technologies.

Senator Wyden has worked to provide technology-neutral tax incentives for the production of clean electricity and clean transportation fuel. In addition, Senator Wyden has a strong commitment to advancing Eastern Oregon’s windfarms, which are a critical part of rural Oregon’s energy infrastructure, and continues to push for innovative policies to increase automotive fuel mileage while preserving consumer choice.
Hanford  

Senator Wyden has worked for more than 20 years to hold the Department of Energy (DOE) accountable for the cleanup of hazardous nuclear waste from Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. From his days as a Representative of Oregon’s Third Congressional District, Wyden warned about the dangers of leaking radioactive sludge from the single shelled tanks stored at Hanford. As a senior member and the former chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Wyden continues to press the Department of Energy for a comprehensive plan to safely treat and manage the high-level waste tanks on the site and build a treatment plant to permanently dispose of the high-level waste contained in them. 

Senator Wyden has also been the leading voice demanding protections for whistleblowers who raise concerns about the safety culture at Hanford, calling for independent investigations into unchecked retaliation against whistleblowers who report public safety risks.
Protecting Oregon's Natural Treasures  

Oregon’s public lands and wild places support valuable habitats, crystal-clear water supplies, and untouched wilderness. From working with the Clinton Administration to protect the iconic Steens Mountain area and to establish the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, to writing and passing legislation that creates and expands wilderness protections for some of Oregon’s most treasured areas, Senator Wyden has worked to ensure Oregon’s pristine areas are protected for generations to come.

In 2019, key provisions of Wyden's Oregon Wildlands Act was signed into law, creating the Devil's Staircase Wilderness by designating roughly 30,000 acres of remote lands in the Oregon Coast Range; permanently protecting the Chetco River -- a critical source of drinking water and habitat for endangered salmon in southwest Oregon -- from mining and mineral extraction; designating 250 miles of prime Oregon salmon and steelhead-producing rivers and streams as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System; and protecting an additional 40 miles of Rogue River tributaries from mining and future dam installations. The public lands law also included Wyden's legislation to designate nearly 100,000 acres of Forest Service land north of the North Umpqua River as the "Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Special Management Area" and ensure the river, and its surrounding area, will protect steelhead habitat and preserve recreation opportunities for generations to come.
Recreation  

Oregon’s public lands, with their countless remarkable natural features and diverse landscapes, lend themselves to a variety of recreational pursuits and help support over 170,000 jobs and over $16 billion in annual revenue for Oregon’s economy. Unfortunately, bureaucratic hurdles like inconsistent and arduous permitting applications often make it hard for Oregon’s outfitters, guides, and everyday recreationists to experience the outdoors. To address these concerns, Senator Wyden introduced bipartisan legislation, the Recreation Not Red-Tape Act, to make it easier for people to get outdoors and recreate on public lands across our beautiful state. 

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