Andy Kerr

Conservationist, Writer, Analyst, Operative, Agitator, Strategist, Tactitian, Schmoozer, Raconteur

Ron Wyden

Fig. 1. Crabtree Lake in Crabtree Valley, which contains some of the oldest trees in Oregon, is in the proposed Douglas Fir National Monument, located in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. Source: David Stone, Wildlands Photography. Previously appeared in … — Fig. 1. *Crabtree Lake in Crabtree Valley, which contains some of the oldest trees in Oregon, is in the proposed Douglas Fir National Monument, located in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains.* Source: David Stone, Wildlands Photography. Previously appeared in *Oregon Wild: Endangered Forest Wilderness* (Timber Press, 2004), by the author.

The Oregon Wildlands Act 2.0

March 29, 2019 in Congress, Legislation, Nat'l Conservation Lands, National Forest System, National Monuments, National Park Service, National Park System, National Parks, National Recreation Area, National Scenic Area, National Wildlife Refuges, Recreation, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness, National Trails System

Less than a week after President Trump signed the Oregon Wildlands Act into law (as one of many bills in the John D. Dingell, Jr., Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act), Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-3rd-OR) convened an Oregon Public Lands Forum on Monday, March 18, 2019.

Showdown for the Oregon Wildlands Act

January 18, 2019 in Bureau of Land Management, Congress, Forest Service, Legislation, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness, National Recreation Area

In play right now in Congress are two bills that would elevate the conservation status of 442,620 acres of public land in Oregon.

Wither the Wild Rogue?

January 04, 2019 in Federal Lands, Bureau of Land Management, Congress, National Recreation Area, Wilderness, Wild and Scenic Rivers

When Representative Greg Walden (R-2nd-OR) hears “the Rogue,” he happily dreams of the roar of chainsaws. But now Walden is down and Representative Peter DeFazio (D-4th-OR) is up, and the stars have aligned to save the Wild Rogue. You can help.

Trump Signs DeFazio-Walden-Wyden-Merkley Bill Giving Away 50 Square Miles of Federal Public Land in Oregon

December 07, 2018 in Bureau of Land Management, Congress, Legislation, Privatization

A bill that gives away 32,261 acres of federal public land in Oregon has been signed into law by President Donald Trump. The new owners are expected to intensively log and road their new holdings.

Public Lands in the 116th (2019–20) Congress

November 09, 2018 in Administration, Congress, Courts, Department of Interior, Endangered Species, Federal Lands, Land & Water Cons. Fund, Presidents

Elections matter, and the 2018 midterm election mattered a lot.

Go Take a Hike: The National Trails System at Fifty

September 28, 2018 in Congress, Recreation

In 1965, in a message to Congress, President Lyndon Johnson said, “We can and should have an abundance of trails for walking, cycling, and horseback riding, in and close to our cities. In the backcountry we need to copy the great Appalachian Trail in all parts of America.”

How US Public Lands Can Help Save the Climate and Ourselves

September 22, 2018 in Climate Change, Congress, Energy, Keep it in the Ground

Rather than limiting ourselves to the micro and at the margin, the public lands conservation community must go for the macro and at the core.

Filling the Congressional Conservation Pipeline for When It Unclogs

August 31, 2018 in Congress, Federal Lands, Keep it in the Ground, Marine National Monuments, Marine Sanctuaries, Nat'l Conservation Lands, National Forest System, National Monuments, National Park Service, National Park System, National Parks, National Recreation Area, National Wildlife Refuges, Politics, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness, Bureau of Land Management, Ecological Reserves

Several mostly good public lands conservation bills have been introduced in the 115th Congress (2017–18) but languish in committee, unable to get a vote on the floor of the House or the Senate.

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, Part 2: Rounding It Out and Cleaning It Up (For Oregon, If Not Elsewhere)

July 27, 2018 in Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Park Service, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Congress, Bureau of Land Management

Currently, less than 1 percent of Oregon streams, by mileage, are included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. An estimated additional 10,000 miles (less than 3 percent of the total mileage) of Oregon streams are eligible for inclusion.

The National Wilderness Preservation System, Part 3: The Promise of and a Promise to Wilderness

June 15, 2018 in Wilderness

Despite its imperfections, the Wilderness Act is a wonderful law, worth defending against all attacks and attackers.

Protecting the Pacific Northwest Offshore Ocean for This and Future Generations

January 26, 2018 in Congress, Administration, Department of Interior, Federal Lands, Keep it in the Ground, Marine National Monuments, Marine Sanctuaries, National Monuments, Oceans, Presidents

Abstaining from mineral development offshore is the only way to protect the marine environment and the renewable resources that depend upon it.

Public Lands Conservation in Congress: Stalled by the Extinction of Green Republicans

December 01, 2017 in Administration, Congress, Federal Lands, National Monuments Act

Many politicians call for a return to the era of bipartisanship as a solution to any woe. This call has resonance because the bipartisan era occurred in the living memory of baby boomers. But in the long arc of history this era did not last long, and the evidence of today does not give much hope of a return to it.

The National Landscape Conservation System: In Need of Rounding Out

November 03, 2017 in Bureau of Land Management, Congress, Department of Interior, Nat'l Conservation Lands

In 2000, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt created, by administrative order, the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS), to “conserve, protect, and restore these nationally significant landscapes that have outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values for the benefit of current and future generations.”

Oregon’s Wildlands Should Matter At Least as Much to Oregon Legislators as Alaska's and Utah's

October 20, 2017 in Bureau of Land Management, Congress, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness, National Recreation Area

However, their cosponsoring a tundra wilderness bill in Alaska and a red rocks wilderness bill in Utah—at relatively large acreages of 1.6 and 9.1 million acres respectively—contrasts unfavorably with the Oregon congressional delegation’s efforts to conserve and restore Oregon’s green forests, tan deserts, and blue waters for the benefit of this and future generations.

Dancing on the Dark Side: Wyden Guts His Own National Recreation Area System Bill

September 15, 2017 in Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, National Recreation Area

Senator Ron Wyden had a visionary and bold bill that would establish a National Recreation Area System. I strongly supported that legislative provision in a post to this Public Lands Blog.... I heaped praise on the Wyden-Blumenauer bill that would have established generally strong conservation and management standards for new national recreation areas.... Now I must heap scorn on the Wyden-Bishop bill. The section that would establish a National Recreation Area System has been gutted of any significant conservation value and would only change the color on the map, but not management on the ground.

The Proposed Oregon Wildlands Act of 2017: Very Good but Not Yet Great

September 08, 2017 in Bureau of Land Management, Congress, Forest Service, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness, National Recreation Area

The congressional conservation pipeline is clogged. This is not because it is too full of fine legislation that would elevate the conservation status of certain public lands by designating wilderness, wild and scenic rivers, and other special protection areas, but because of the general dysfunction of Congress. (I hear it was worse before the Civil War.) One bill in that pipeline, sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and cosponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), is the proposed Oregon Wildlands Act (OWA) of 2017 (S.1548, 115th Congress).

Owyhee Canyonlands: Faux Conservation and Pork Barrel Development

August 11, 2017 in Antiquities Act, Bureau of Land Management, Congress, National Monuments, National Park System

The Owyhee Canyonlands in Oregon are worthy of inclusion in the National Park System, administered by the National Park Service. Now that would be local economic development! The Owyhee Canyonlands are worthy of designation by Congress as an overarching national conservation area with underlying wilderness and wild and scenic rivers where appropriate. The Owyhee Canyonlands are not deserving of a half-assed mineral withdrawal that locks in other harmful uses.

The Westerman Bill: The Timber Industry’s Wet Dream

July 28, 2017 in Bureau of Land Management, Courts, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Recreation Area, National Monuments, Watersheds, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness

Who wouldn’t want “resilient” (“able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions”) forests? With the name Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017 (H.R.2936, 115th Congress), what could possibly be wrong with this bill?

Everything. Judge neither a book by its cover nor a bill by its name.

Introduced by Representative Bruce Westerman (R-4th-AR), the bill is the timber industry’s wet dream legislation. In only his second term in Congress, Westerman has received more campaign contributions from Big Timber than any other industry.

The Westerman bill would legislate horrifically harmful public forest policy into law.

Preremembering Jim Weaver, Oregon Conservationist

July 21, 2017 in Congress, Wilderness, Preremembrances

As Jim Weaver quietly lives out his days in his beloved Oregon, this and future generations are in his debt because even though he represented the congressional district ranked highest for timber production in the nation, Weaver was a strong and tireless proponent of wilderness. There are wilderness areas today safely on the map, both inside and beyond his congressional district, because Jim Weaver stood up for the wild in Oregon in ways that no elected official had done before or has done since.

Increased Wilderness Demand Calls for Increased Wilderness Supply

July 07, 2017 in Forest Service, National Forest System, Wilderness, Recreation

The demand for wilderness and parks is most likely to increase despite any best efforts to limit Oregon's, so what about the supply of wilderness?

Public Lands Blog

Blog Posts by Category

A fortnightly exposition on some aspect of federal or state public lands in the United States. Some posts goes rather deep and serve as a useful (I hope) backgrounders on particular public land areas, matters or issues. Other fortnights, you’ll find a topical piece addressing a public lands controversy of the moment. This blog not only defends, but also extols, public lands.

Andy Kerr of The Larch Company (www.andykerr.net) splits his time between Ashland, OR and Hancock, ME. He has been significantly involved in the enactment of more than 25 pieces of federal and state legislation and in copious litigation pertaining to public lands. Dedicated to the conservation and restoration of nature, The Larch Company is a non-membership for-profit organization that represents species that cannot talk and humans not yet born. A deciduous conifer, the western larch has a contrary nature.

If you wish to contact me, I will probably be glad you did.