II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 888
To designate certain land administered by the Bureau of Land Management
and the Forest Service in the State of Oregon as wilderness and national
recreation areas, to withdraw certain land located in Curry County and
Josephine County, Oregon, from all forms of entry, appropriation, or
disposal under the public land laws, location, entry, and patent under
the mining laws, and operation under the mineral leasing and geothermal
leasing laws, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH6, 2025
Mr. W
YDEN(for himself and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources
A BILL
To designate certain land administered by the Bureau of
Land Management and the Forest Service in the State
of Oregon as wilderness and national recreation areas,
to withdraw certain land located in Curry County and
Josephine County, Oregon, from all forms of entry, ap-
propriation, or disposal under the public land laws, loca-
tion, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and oper-
ation under the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing
laws, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Oregon Recreation En-2
hancement Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
In this Act: 5
(1) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 6
means— 7
(A) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-8
spect to public land administered by the Sec-9
retary of the Interior; or 10
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-11
spect to National Forest System land. 12
(2) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 13
of Oregon. 14
SEC. 3. ROGUE CANYON AND MOLALLA RECREATION 15
AREAS, OREGON. 16
(a) D
ESIGNATION OFROGUECANYON ANDMOLALLA 17
R
ECREATIONAREAS.—For the purposes of protecting, 18
conserving, and enhancing the unique and nationally im-19
portant recreational, ecological, scenic, cultural, water-20
shed, and fish and wildlife values of the areas, the fol-21
lowing areas in the State are designated as recreation 22
areas for management by the Secretary in accordance with 23
subsection (c): 24
(1) R
OGUE CANYON RECREATION AREA .—The 25
approximately 98,150 acres of Bureau of Land Man-26
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agement land within the boundary generally depicted 1
as the ‘‘Rogue Canyon Recreation Area’’ on the map 2
entitled ‘‘Rogue Canyon Recreation Area Wild 3
Rogue Wilderness Additions’’ and dated November 4
19, 2019, which is designated as the ‘‘Rogue Canyon 5
Recreation Area’’. 6
(2) M
OLALLA RECREATION AREA .—The ap-7
proximately 29,884 acres of Bureau of Land Man-8
agement land within the boundary generally depicted 9
on the map entitled ‘‘Molalla Recreation Area’’ and 10
dated September 26, 2018, which is designated as 11
the ‘‘Molalla Recreation Area’’. 12
(b) M
APS ANDLEGALDESCRIPTIONS.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after 14
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 15
shall prepare a map and legal description of each 16
recreation area designated by subsection (a). 17
(2) E
FFECT.—The maps and legal descriptions 18
prepared under paragraph (1) shall have the same 19
force and effect as if included in this Act, except 20
that the Secretary may correct any minor errors in 21
the maps and legal descriptions. 22
(3) P
UBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The maps and 23
legal descriptions prepared under paragraph (1) 24
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shall be available for public inspection in the appro-1
priate offices of the Bureau of Land Management. 2
(c) A
DMINISTRATION.— 3
(1) A
PPLICABLE LAW.—The Secretary shall ad-4
minister each recreation area designated by sub-5
section (a)— 6
(A) in a manner that conserves, protects, 7
and enhances the purposes for which the recre-8
ation area is established; and 9
(B) in accordance with— 10
(i) this section; 11
(ii) the Federal Land Policy and Man-12
agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et 13
seq.); and 14
(iii) other applicable laws. 15
(2) U
SES.—The Secretary shall only allow those 16
uses of a recreation area designated by subsection 17
(a) that are consistent with the purposes for which 18
the recreation area is established. 19
(3) W
ILDFIRE RISK ASSESSMENT .—Not later 20
than 280 days after the date of enactment of this 21
Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the Oregon 22
Governor’s Council on Wildfire Response, shall con-23
duct a wildfire risk assessment that covers— 24
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(A) the recreation areas designated by sub-1
section (a); 2
(B) the Wild Rogue Wilderness; and 3
(C) any Federal land adjacent to an area 4
described in subparagraph (A) or (B). 5
(4) W
ILDFIRE MITIGATION PLAN.— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 7
after the date on which the wildfire risk assess-8
ment is conducted under paragraph (3), the 9
Secretary shall develop a wildfire mitigation 10
plan, based on the wildfire risk assessment, that 11
identifies, evaluates, and prioritizes treatments 12
and other management activities that can be 13
implemented on the Federal land covered by the 14
wildfire risk assessment (other than Federal 15
land designated as a unit of the National Wil-16
derness Preservation System) to mitigate wild-17
fire risk to communities located near the appli-18
cable Federal land. 19
(B) P
LAN COMPONENTS .—The wildfire 20
mitigation plan developed under subparagraph 21
(A) shall include— 22
(i) vegetation management projects 23
(including mechanical treatments to reduce 24
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hazardous fuels and improve forest health 1
and resiliency); 2
(ii) evacuation routes for communities 3
located near the applicable Federal land, 4
which shall be developed in consultation 5
with State and local fire agencies; and 6
(iii) strategies for public dissemination 7
of emergency evacuation plans and routes. 8
(C) A
PPLICABLE LAW.—The wildfire miti-9
gation plan under subparagraph (A) shall be 10
developed in accordance with— 11
(i) this section; and 12
(ii) any other applicable law. 13
(5) R
OAD CONSTRUCTION.— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 15
subparagraph (B) or as the Secretary deter-16
mines necessary for public safety, no new per-17
manent or temporary roads shall be constructed 18
(other than the repair and maintenance of ex-19
isting roads) within a recreation area des-20
ignated by subsection (a). 21
(B) T
EMPORARY ROADS .—Consistent with 22
the purposes of this Act, the Secretary may 23
construct temporary roads within a recreation 24
area designated by subsection (a) to implement 25
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the wildfire mitigation plan developed under 1
paragraph (4), unless the temporary road would 2
be within an area designated as a unit of the 3
National Wilderness Preservation System. 4
(C) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this paragraph 5
affects the administration by the Secretary of 6
the Molalla Forest Road in accordance with ap-7
plicable resource management plans. 8
(6) E
FFECT ON WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT .— 9
Nothing in this section alters the authority of the 10
Secretary (in cooperation with other Federal, State, 11
and local agencies, as appropriate) to conduct 12
wildland fire operations within a recreation area des-13
ignated by subsection (a), consistent with the pur-14
poses of this Act. 15
(7) W
ITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing 16
rights, all Federal surface and subsurface land with-17
in a recreation area designated by subsection (a) is 18
withdrawn from all forms of— 19
(A) entry, appropriation, or disposal under 20
the public land laws; 21
(B) location, entry, and patent under the 22
mining laws; and 23
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(C) disposition under all laws pertaining to 1
mineral leasing, geothermal leasing, or mineral 2
materials. 3
(8) N
O EFFECT ON WILDERNESS AREAS .—Any 4
wilderness area located within a recreation area des-5
ignated by subsection (a) shall be administered in 6
accordance with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 7
et seq.). 8
(d) A
DJACENTMANAGEMENT.—Nothing in this sec-9
tion creates any protective perimeter or buffer zone 10
around a recreation area designated by subsection (a). 11
SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF WILD ROGUE WILDERNESS AREA. 12
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
(1) M
AP.—The term ‘‘map’’ means the map en-14
titled ‘‘Rogue Canyon Recreation Area Wild Rogue 15
Wilderness Additions’’ and dated November 19, 16
2019. 17
(2) W
ILDERNESS ADDITIONS.—The term ‘‘Wil-18
derness additions’’ means the land added to the Wild 19
Rogue Wilderness under subsection (b)(1). 20
(b) E
XPANSION OF WILDROGUEWILDERNESS 21
A
REA.— 22
(1) E
XPANSION.—The approximately 59,512 23
acres of Federal land in the State generally depicted 24
on the map as ‘‘Proposed Wilderness’’ shall be 25
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added to and administered as part of the Wild 1
Rogue Wilderness in accordance with the Endan-2
gered American Wilderness Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 3
1132 note; Public Law 95–237), except that— 4
(A) the Secretary of the Interior and the 5
Secretary of Agriculture shall administer the 6
Federal land under their respective jurisdiction; 7
and 8
(B) any reference in that Act to the Sec-9
retary of Agriculture shall be considered to be 10
a reference to the Secretary of Agriculture or 11
the Secretary of the Interior, as applicable. 12
(2) M
AP; LEGAL DESCRIPTION.— 13
(A) I
N GENERAL.—As soon as practicable 14
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-15
retary shall prepare a map and legal description 16
of the wilderness area designated by paragraph 17
(1). 18
(B) F
ORCE OF LAW.—The map and legal 19
description filed under subparagraph (A) shall 20
have the same force and effect as if included in 21
this section, except that the Secretary may cor-22
rect typographical errors in the map and legal 23
description. 24
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(C) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The map and 1
legal description filed under subparagraph (A) 2
shall be on file and available for public inspec-3
tion in the appropriate offices of the Bureau of 4
Land Management and Forest Service. 5
(3) F
IRE, INSECTS, AND DISEASE.—The Sec-6
retary may take such measures within the Wilder-7
ness additions as the Secretary determines to be 8
necessary for the control of fire, insects, and disease, 9
in accordance with section 4(d)(1) of the Wilderness 10
Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)(1)). 11
(4) W
ITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing 12
rights, the Wilderness additions are withdrawn from 13
all forms of— 14
(A) entry, appropriation, or disposal under 15
the public land laws; 16
(B) location, entry, and patent under the 17
mining laws; and 18
(C) disposition under all laws pertaining to 19
mineral leasing, geothermal leasing, or mineral 20
materials. 21
(5) T
RIBAL RIGHTS.—Nothing in this sub-22
section alters, modifies, enlarges, diminishes, or ab-23
rogates the treaty rights of any Indian Tribe. 24
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SEC. 5. WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL LAND, CURRY COUNTY 1
AND JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON. 2
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
(1) E
LIGIBLE FEDERAL LAND .—The term ‘‘eli-4
gible Federal land’’ means— 5
(A) any federally owned land or interest in 6
land depicted on the Maps as within the Hunter 7
Creek and Pistol River Headwaters Withdrawal 8
Proposal or the Rough and Ready and Baldface 9
Creeks Mineral Withdrawal Proposal; or 10
(B) any land or interest in land located 11
within such withdrawal proposals that is ac-12
quired by the Federal Government after the 13
date of enactment of this Act. 14
(2) M
APS.—The term ‘‘Maps’’ means— 15
(A) the Bureau of Land Management map 16
entitled ‘‘Hunter Creek and Pistol River Head-17
waters Withdrawal Proposal’’ and dated Janu-18
ary 12, 2015; and 19
(B) the Bureau of Land Management map 20
entitled ‘‘Rough and Ready and Baldface 21
Creeks Mineral Withdrawal Proposal’’ and 22
dated January 12, 2015. 23
(b) W
ITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing rights, 24
the eligible Federal land is withdrawn from all forms of— 25
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(1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the 1
public land laws; 2
(2) location, entry, and patent under the mining 3
laws; and 4
(3) operation under the mineral leasing and 5
geothermal leasing laws. 6
(c) A
VAILABILITY OFMAPS.—Not later than 30 days 7
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Maps shall 8
be made available to the public at each appropriate office 9
of the Bureau of Land Management. 10
(d) E
XISTINGUSESNOTAFFECTED.—Except with 11
respect to the withdrawal under subsection (b), nothing 12
in this section restricts recreational uses, hunting, fishing, 13
forest management activities, or other authorized uses al-14
lowed on the date of enactment of this Act on the eligible 15
Federal land in accordance with applicable law. 16
Æ
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