Oregon has 16,135,800 acres of BLM lands and 15,661,278 acres of National Forests. The last wilderness areas designated in Oregon were in the Omnibus Law signed by President Obama in March 2009: Badger Creek Additions, Badland, Bull of the Woods Additions, Clackamas, Copper Salmon, Lower White River, Mark O. Hatfield Additions, Mount Hood Additions, Roaring River, Salmon-Huckleberry Additions, Spring Basin, and Soda Mountain
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Devil's Staircase
Oregon’s Coast Range, which runs south from the Washington border, is home to what many consider the single most remote location in the entire state. Wassen Creek flows between the Smith and Umpqua Rivers and boasts the remarkable Devil’s Staircase. It contains one of the finest stands of old growth ancient forest in Oregon’s Coast Range, and is home to the coast’s highest density of spotted owls. Wassen Creek supports healthy runs of Chinook and Coho salmon, and steelhead, up to Devil’s Staircase’s impenetrable barrier. It’s also home to robust populations of elk, black bear, mountain lion, otter, and mink. The proposed Devil’s Staircase Wilderness would be approximately 27,000 acres in size, with all 7 miles of Wassen Creek protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
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Lower John Day River
This legislation would designate, as wilderness, over 16,000 acres in the Cathedral Rock and Horse Heaven areas near the lower John Day River.
The areas encompass dramatic basalt cliffs and rolling hills of juniper, sagebrush and bluebranch wheatgrass. The landscape also offers key habitat for pygmy rabbit and Ferruginous Hawk and is a critical corridor connecting the habitats of a large number of key wildlife species.
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Rogue River
Southwest Oregon's Rogue River flows through one of the most spectacular and biologically unique wildlands in the United States. It provides freshwater habitat to enormous ocean-going salmon runs and possesses flora and fauna diversity unmatched anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. While portions of the roadless lands that surround the Rogue were protected in 1978 as the Wild Rogue Wilderness Area, much of this watershed remains unprotected from old-growth logging slated along key tributaries. A coalition of conservation organizations is working with local outfitters and businesses to protect approximately 58,340 acres of the Wild Rogue area as wilderness.
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Owyhee Canyonlands
The Owyhee Canyonlands have over 700,000 acres of potential Wilderness and 288 miles of wild and scenic rivers. The canyons are home to the world's largest herd of California bighorn sheep, 6,000 pronghorn antelope, 7 species of bats, sage grouse and songbirds, redband trout, longnose snakes, and pygmy rabbits and innumerable archaeological and historical sites are hidden in its canyons. A coalition of conservation organizations is working to establish a round table discussion with local ranchers and stakeholders to develop a wilderness proposal for this area.
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