School Supplies on Store Shelves: Still Time for OR Backcountry Adventures
Monday, July 7, 2008
Portland, OR - The holiday weekend may be over, but there's still plenty of summer left to "get lost" in Oregon wilderness. This year is a perfect time to explore some trails less traveled, as Congress considers adding new wilderness protections for five areas in the state. They range from Mount Hood to Copper Salmon on the southern coast, according to David Dreher with the Campaign For America's Wilderness.
He says wilderness experiences are to be had just 90 minutes from Oregon's major metropolitan area.
"Get out on Mount Hood and explore some of the less-known areas, maybe on the back side of the mountain -- some of the places that we're looking to protect as wilderness."
A number of wilderness bills have been moving forward in Congress, including the Copper Salmon and Mount Hood efforts, and there's still a good chance for other bills that would protect parts of central and southern Oregon. President Bush already has signed one wilderness bill into law this year, creating the Wild Sky Wilderness in Washington State.
Dreher hopes if people visit some of Oregon's more far-flung wild areas they won't let their first impressions color their view of the place.
"If you look at a picture of the Badlands, it doesn't look like much, but you get out there on the ground and you see these amazing rock formations and slot canyons and Native American pictographs. It's really something to behold."
Opponents of creating new wilderness designations say they "lock up" public land, preventing motorized recreation and resource extraction. Supporters say plenty of federal land already is available for those uses.
A map of wilderness bills before Congress is available at http://www.leaveitwild.org/docs/maps/wilderness_current_bills_western_us.pdf">www.leaveitwild.org/docs.
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