Oregon/Washington John Dingell Conservation Act Additions

On March 12, 2019, President Trump signed the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act (Public Law 116-9 also known as the Dingell Act), a comprehensive public land management bill with over 170 separate sections that affect almost every state in the nation.  In Oregon and Washington the Dingell Act directs the BLM to take several actions related to its surface management authorities on public domain and Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands as well as several actions related to its subsurface management authorities on National Forest System lands.  

Among the spectacular new additions to the National Landscape Conservation System in Oregon/Washington include:

• the designation of approximately 200 miles of wild and scenic rivers in the Coos Bay, Medford, and Northwest Oregon Districts.  These wild, scenic, and recreational segments are spread across 48 new river designations;
• the designation of the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in the Coos Bay District; and
• an adjustment of the Deschutes Canyon-Steelhead Falls Wilderness Study Area boundary in the Prineville District in central Oregon.

BLM is also working with the U.S. Forest Service on a 340,079-acre mineral withdrawal.  This withdrawal is entirely on National Forest lands in the upper Methow River drainage within the Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forest.