This week, Congressmen Peter DeFazio and Earl Blumenauer introduced their "Oregon Treasures" legislation in the US House of Representatives. The bill contains some big headliners: 143 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers in the Rogue watershed and 132,000 acres of Wilderness surrounding Mount Hood. Lost in the shuffle is little old Oregon Caves National Monument.

And when I say little, I mean the second smallest piece of land managed by the National Park Service. The Monument outside of Cave Junction is only 480 acres.

The quote from the 1982 Oregon Wild (formerly Oregon Wilderness Coalition, formerly ONRC) newsletter shows that people have been calling for expanding the monument for a quarter-century. So, despite the big headliners of the "Oregon Treasures" bill, Oregon Caves caught my eye.

It's worth noting that the plan outlined in today's bill is almost exactly the same as the one the conservation community had been calling for over the years: a ten-fold increase in the size of the Monument. This increase would put Forest Service land in the management hands of the National Park Service allowing the Park Service to protect the drinking water supply of the area, Cave Creek.

Another neat thing about the proposal is that it would designate an underground stretch of Cave Creek (known as the Styx River) as a Wild and Scenic River. This would be the first subterranean stretch of water designated Wild and Scenic since the original bill was passed in 1968. Quite the distinction.

So, amid 11,000+ foot peaks and one of the wildest watersheds in the west, let's hear it for a big expansion at Oregon Caves.