House passes Mount Hood bill

Congressmen prod Senate to act quickly

By Marcus Hathcock

The Sandy Post, Jul 25, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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The U.S. House of Representatives voted Monday to pass the Mount Hood Stewardship Legacy Act, and its Oregon sponsors urged the Senate to do the same immediately.

U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, and Greg Walden, R-Hood River, gave a summary of their bill — which would designate more than 77,000 acres of land around Mount Hood as wilderness and institute a number of stewardship measures — and received a quick, unanimous approval from the House membership.

The bill was passed using a congressional provision known as Suspension of the Rules, which allows a maximum 40-minute debate on a piece of legislation, prohibits amendments and requires a two-thirds majority for passage.

Madeleine Bordallo — the Democratic delegate from Guam — publicly threw her support to the bill.

“This is one of the most important days in the modern history of Mount Hood,” Blumenauer remarked before the vote. He urged his colleagues in the Senate to act quickly.

“I hope our friends in the other body will seize the day,” Blumenauer said. “If they choose to act this week, the president can sign it before Labor Day.”

The proposed act

The Mount Hood Stewardship Legacy Act would increase the protected wilderness areas around the mountain by 41 percent and would institute a new plan for management of the mountain’s natural resources.

In addition to adding more than 77,000 acres of land to the 1.1 million-acre Mount Hood wilderness protection area, Walden and Blumenauer’s bill deals with issues in transportation, recreation and natural resources.

“This deals with more than just wilderness acreage,” Walden said in a previous interview. “It’s about … a wide array of issues that came to us, and I think our bill represents those issues well.”

Other priorities within the plan include: adding 23 miles of waterways within the Mount Hood National Forest to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System; supporting recreational activities; developing an integrated transportation plan for the Mount Hood region; establishing a special resources management unit to ensure protection of the Crystal Springs watershed; promoting forested landscapes resilient to fire and disease; and recognizing and supporting tribal activities.

“We worked very hard to make sure we listened to people,” Blumenauer said. “The strength of the three-year process we have been involved with is that we have involved lots of people. It’s not a stretch to say we’ve given people what they want.”

Walden said he and his colleague have “worked out most if not all the issues raised” by affected parties, which include mountain residents, the timber industry, environmentalists and recreation enthusiasts.

“This has been extraordinarily well-vetted in the public,” Walden said. “We have a bug-free bill that is ready to become law.”

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