Report: Mt. Hood Part of America’s Wild Legacy
Monday, October 1, 2007
Portland, OR – Oregonians know the allure and beauty of Mount Hood, and now the peak is getting national recognition as one of the top places in the nation in need of increased protection.
"America's Wild Legacy," a new report from the Sierra Club, names the second most-climbed peak in the world as one of the country's 52 "most endangered wild places." Ivan Maluski of the Sierra Club's Oregon office explains all the areas featured in the report are public lands, owned by the American people.
"These are the areas where we go to recreate, from where we often get our drinking water, where we go to hunt and fish -- and yet, public lands are threatened by everything from oil and gas drilling to logging and development."
The U.S. Senate is considering a bill that would give federal wilderness protection to almost 125,000 acres of land on Mount Hood and in the Columbia River Gorge. Maluski says after six years, there's a good chance the legislation will pass.
"We're hopeful that we're finally going to get some critical areas protected. Mt. Hood's North side is being threatened with development, and the Clackamas River area, that provides critical recreation and drinking water sources, is being threatened with logging."
Maluski adds the bill has the support of local communities and businesses, recreation groups and conservationists.
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