Revolutionary War And War Of 1812 Battlefield Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I rise today to urge colleagues to support Chairman Bingaman on the upcoming amendments and to speak in favor of this extraordinarily important public lands package.

This legislation would designate over 2 million acres of our great country as wilderness, surpassing the wilderness acreage designated by the last three sessions combined. The wilderness protected in this bill spans nine States, including my home State of Oregon. In addition, it adds close to 1,100 miles to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in seven States--again including Oregon.

It is going to allow for much needed upgrades to national trails, monuments, national conservation areas, oceans, the National Landscape Conservation System, forest landscape restoration, and water resources. Most significantly, the bills contained in this legislation would serve to protect our public lands from encroachment and preserve them for future generations to cherish and enjoy.

The legislation includes provisions that are very near and dear to our country but especially to Oregonians. It includes the Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act of 2007, the Copper Salmon Wilderness Act, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Voluntary and Equitable Grazing Conflict Resolution Act, the Oregon Badlands Wilderness Act of 2008, and the Spring Basin Wilderness Act of 2008.

Today, I also wish to say that it is important to protect these special places because it will also be good for our economy to go forward with this legislation. This is legislation that is important to do whether we are in good times or in bad times--whether the economy is weak or strong. Because the nation's public lands of course, have enduring benefits, benefits we are going to pass on to our children long after these challenging days become a footnote in our country's history. So protecting public lands is a smart thing to do, and it is especially important given the significant economic benefits you will see generated by this legislation. And there are many that know, this is also a smart thing to be doing in a recession because our public lands--accessible to all for free or for a small fee--are where America's families turn for affordable recreation. And that recreation in turn, fuels the economy in many communities that rely on our nation's public lands.

Appreciating the outdoors is not just a passion for Oregonians and the people of our country, it is also an economic engine, which is more urgently needed than ever in these challenging economic times. It is certainly an economic engine in my State, where the unemployment rate is over 10 percent.

So passing this legislation isn't just the right thing to do morally--it is the right thing to do economically.

In these times, folks have been losing their jobs. They do not know where their next job is going to come from. The fact is, there are significant economic benefits through recreation generated by this legislation. The Outdoor Industry Association, which closely tracks American's use of the outdoors and all the economic engine that encourages, has found recently that American's participation in outdoor activities increased in 2007 to 50 percent.

They found that the national active outdoor recreation economy contributes $730 billion annually to our Nation's economy; it supports nearly 6.5 million jobs; it generates $49 billion in annual national tax revenue; and produces almost $300 billion annually in retail sales and services across the country. In Oregon, it contributes more than $5.8 billion annually to Oregon's economy.

So outdoor recreation, what this legislation is going to promote, is a huge economic bonanza for our Nation. I can tell you, because colleagues have asked about Oregon, one of the national treasures this bill would protect, Mt. Hood, has had a banner skiing season. The Forest Service estimates visitation to the Mt. Hood National Forest is more than 2 million visitors a year, making it one of the most popular in our country.

Some other areas that we protect in this bill, the Badlands and Spring Basin are near Central Oregon--a region that has a well-earned reputation as a hub for diverse outdoor recreation. They are also on Bureau of Land Management Lands, ``BLM.'' The BLM estimated that in Oregon alone, BLM lands had 8.3 million recreation visits. Those visits brought people, jobs and investment to the surrounding towns.

The same is true in the other two areas this legislation would protect--the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument, where we would create a new 23,000 acre Soda Mountain Wilderness and Copper Salmon, where fishermen from all over the country journey to fish in one of the last intact watersheds on the southwestern Oregon Coast.

A number of Senators have worked hard to make this legislation possible. I wish to thank them. And certainly Michele Miranda in our office, Mary Gautreaux, and my chief of staff, Josh Kardon, who has tried for years and years to bring together community leaders, all deserve special credit.

We have gems in this legislation that are going to make for recreational industry meccas. I hope that all colleagues will support Chairman Bingaman when the amendments come up and ultimately support this legislation. We ought to pass this legislation. It is time to do it for millions of Americans and for future generations enjoying these great treasures, and we ought to do it because this legislation will also help stoke the economic engine for our country.

I know colleagues are waiting too. I wish to thank Chairman Bingaman for this opportunity to speak. I urge all colleagues to support Chairman Bingaman with respect to these amendments and get this bill passed in the Senate today.

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