In June, 2023, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a new plan to protect over 400,000 acres of public lands in the Owyhee Canyonlands in Southeastern Oregon. The proposed Southeastern Oregon Resource Management Plan Amendment is a guide for the management, maintenance, and enhancement of lands with wilderness characteristics for at least the next 20 years. The new plan also addresses livestock grazing management, off-road vehicle usage, and climate change impacts on public lands.
“The BLM’s decision to conserve more than 400,000 acres of ecologically important public wildlands is precedential – at no other time in history has a BLM district decided to manage more undesignated land for wilderness values than here in the Owyhee Canyonlands,” said Ryan Houston, Executive Director of the Oregon Natural Desert Association.
The Conservation Alliance has proudly supported efforts to protect the Owyhee’s Canyonlands since 1996. Giving over $700,000 to support the decades long work of both the Oregon Natural Desert Association and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
