21 Wild Ideas for the Future

America is at an inflection point unlike any we have seen in our lifetimes. While the global pandemic has wrecked the economy and exposed massive inequities in our healthcare system, it has also mainstreamed massive policy changes that would have been unthinkable just a year ago. How do we create an America that is more just, wild, and free? Here are 21 Ideas drawn from Oregon Wild and our partners for how to move forward. 

#1 Forest defense is climate defense

Jefferson WildernessFederal legislation to protect forests should be a cornerstone of any climate action plan. Globally, deforestation has caused somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of carbon emissions. Our public forestslands across the nation provide a natural climate solution unrivaled in efficiency. In fact, Pacific Northwest old growth forests store carbon more densely than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet – more than the Amazon rainforests! A Federal Forest Climate Protection Act should prohibit the commercial logging of any tree over 80 years old on America’s public lands; establish a database to calculate and report carbon storage and loss on federal forest lands; and require the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to harmonize carbon storage and climate resilience in the management of America’s public forests. – Steve Pedery, Conservation Director, Oregon Wild

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#2 Protecting public lands for public health

More and more research is showing the benefit of nature contact to human health. So, what might a policy to protect public land for health look like? To start, we would increase equitable access to public lands given the evidence demonstrating that access to nature is not equitably distributed. Along with access, we must provide a diversity of ways for people to interact with nature ranging from simply having a view of the water to wooded trails to benches to sit on in public garden. These spaces should provide for both social engagement and quiet personal refuge. Importantly, we must engage local communities in selecting, designing, and protecting new public lands so that they are used and enjoyed. Alongside human access, we must recognize the link between protecting a diversity of native plants and animals – our public lands should serve multiple purposes and protecting biodiversity is a key one. Finally, the pandemic makes it clear that many people need public lands that are closer to their homes and that we need more lands and trails so that we can all use them without overcrowding. – Josh Lawler, Director of Nature and Health, University of Washington

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#3 Stop fighting fires, start supporting communities

Fire in forests is a natural process that can provide a variety of ecological benefits, but as the climate warms fires are likely to be more severe and more widespread. Combined with human-caused changes to forests and a growing population, this means more smoke and other impacts to communities. We’ve seen the timber industry and politicians push for continued extreme fire suppression and more logging to “solve” this issue. However, research shows us that the most effective ways to deal with 21st century fire isn’t logging in the backcountry, but to help communities adapt and become more resilient to wildfires and smoke – installing smoke filtration systems, helping people and communities reduce fuels where it makes the most difference, and retrofitting homes to be more fireproof. Reprioritizing current wildfire suppression funding to instead focus on these investments can help make communities more resilient to natural wildfire while keeping backcountry forests intact. – Chandra LeGue, Western Oregon Field Coordinator, Oregon Wild

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#4 A Civilian Conservation Corps for the 21st century

Civilian Conservation CorpsA Civilian Conservation Corps for the 21st Century requires broad public investment in workforce development programming that restores our public lands and waters, trains a generation of future civic leaders, and rejuvenates an economy sagging under the weight of a pandemic-driven depression. Unlike its ancestor of the 1930s, this 21st Century Conservation Corps will be operated by an existing network of more than 100 non-profit conservation corps across our nation that currently provide opportunities for 25,000 people to serve each year. Participants in these Corps are reducing wildfire risk, maintaining trails, removing invasive species, and doing scientific research on our public lands each day. These organizations currently support and develop a cohort of young, emerging leaders as diverse as our nation itself. Today, more than ever, our nation’s recovery depends on our ability to bring the tools of economic recovery and community restoration to all Americans. – Jeff Parker, Executive Director, Northwest Youth Corps

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#5 Taking elections back from the corporations

In his explosive investigative series, “Polluted by Money” published in The Oregonian in 2019, Rob Davis made clear one of the central problems blocking environmental progress in our state – runaway corporate control over our elections. Oregon remains one of the few states in the country with no caps on campaign contributions, allowing big donors (often polluting corporations) to flood our elections with dirty money and stall out progress on a variety of fronts. Want to update Oregon’s logging laws? Good luck convincing politicians backed by boatloads of timber money. Luckily, a constitutional amendment is on its way to voters this fall that would finally allow the state and municipalities to institute campaign contribution limits. This is just a first step towards handing elections back to the people and opening the door to meaningful debate in the halls of power about how to better protect our environment. – Sean Stevens, Executive Director, Oregon Wild

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#6 Independent and conflict-free boards and commissions

Oregon’s wild places and wild creatures are managed by governing bodies made up of individuals who are appointed with the grave responsibility to determine the best usage of these public assets on behalf of all of us. Too often, individuals with deep ties to extractive industries are granted the privilege of sitting on these boards and commissions and end up having undue influence over the decisions that get made. For the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, past Governors have specifically looked to ensure a voice from Big Timber, ranching, and hunting all sit on the commission that oversees the agency. By statute, the Board of Forestry is allowed up to three members with direct personal financial conflicts. These agencies should be required by law to ensure that individuals serving in this capacity are independent and will not be able to reap financial gain from their service. Instead, there should be priority given to scientists and economists who can broadly evaluate situations and regulations as a whole, with a bias only toward making the best possible decisions for all Oregonians. – Lisa Billings, Vice President, Oregon Wild Board of Directors

#7 Let condor fly in Hells Canyon

CondorQúˀnes or California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) once graced the skies of northeastern Oregon and the greater Hells Canyon Ecoregion but were extirpated from the area by the late 1800s. The Nez Perce Tribe would like to change that by restoring Qúˀnes to their ancestral homelands. A recently completed habitat assessment confirms that Hells Canyon contains abundant food resources, excellent geography for soaring raptors, a relatively sparse human population, and few developments that might pose a risk to condor restoration. Moreover, direct threats to condors appear low, with two exceptions: lead poisoning from spent ammunition, and commercial wind energy developments. The Tribe is now moving forward with a hunter outreach program to promote use of non-lead ammunition while also building community and agency support for local condor recovery over the next three years. Their goal is a well-supported management plan to guide a Qúˀnes reintroduction effort. – Angela Sondenaa, Precious Lands Project Leader, Nez Perce Tribe

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#8 A real estate transfer tax for tribal justice

As Oregon’s population has rapidly expanded in recent years, development of all kinds has boomed. From housing construction to business expansion, those who buy, sell, manage, and invest in real estate have made handsome incomes based on the land they have bought and sold. This wealth accumulation has come on the heels of centuries of land theft and genocide victimizing the original indigenous inhabitants of the land. Many tribes lack federal recognition and reservation land. Even those tribes granted reservation lands through treaty or law occupy a tiny sliver of what was once their home – and often times these reservations are far from their traditional territories. One way to restore land to tribes and achieve some measure of justice for indigenous peoples would be to institute a real estate transfer tax at the federal level. A small fee placed on all land transfers would acknowledge the history of land theft and provide a massive fund that could be distributed to tribes for the purchase of lands important for cultural, economic, and historical purposes. – Sean Stevens, Executive Director, Oregon Wild

#9 Protecting all of Oregon’s wild spaces

Faced with a global extinction crisis, a growing chorus of biologists are urging governments around the world to set aside half of our planet’s land base as protected natural areas. Eminent biologist E.O. Wilson articulated the idea in a 2016 book, outlining a goal of maintaining healthy populations of 85% of species on Earth. Protecting half the planet will not only protect nature, but also ensure safe drinking water, clean air, and carbon-capturing forests for future generations. Here in Oregon, we have permanently protected only 4% of our state’s land mass as Wilderness (the only designation that keeps the chainsaws and bulldozers fully at bay). Oregon’s Congressional delegation should make a down payment on getting us closer to 50% by introducing and passing legislation to permanently protect our state’s remaining four million acres of forested roadless lands as Wilderness, National Recreation Areas, and Wild & Scenic Rivers. After all, it’s not so hard to agree that nature deserves half. – Steve Pedery, Conservation Director, Oregon Wild

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#10 Saving local, independent journalism

Local Oregon journalists have helped tell the stories of frontline communities impacted by industrial logging practices, held government agencies accountable when they are ignoring the best available science, and exposed corrupt politicians abusing taxpayer resources. Unfortunately, shrinking newsrooms have resulted in important stories and investigations increasingly slipping through the cracks. Polluting industries have rushed to fill the void. For example, the clearcut lobby is spending over $120,000 on Facebook ads alone! In order to counter this propaganda, we need to save independent journalism. One promising idea from Australia mandates platforms like Facebook and Google share their profits with local news outlets. After all, the online content generated by these outlets is one of the ways online platforms have become so profitable. If we don’t take steps to reverse the decline of journalism, the only news we’ll have will be what the people with lots of money want us to see. – Arran Robertson, Communications Manager, Oregon Wild

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#11 Bringing back Elakha

Sea otterFor millenia, elakha (the Chinook word for sea otter) roamed the kelp forests of Oregon's coastal waters, creating a rich, diverse, and resilient ecosystem that fed coastal Indian people. Decimated by fur hunters in the 19th century, sea otters have been almost entirely absent from their historical habitat on Oregon's coast for over a century. That’s a problem, because sea otters are an ecologically crucial keystone species. In the nearshore marine environment they eat sea urchins that otherwise graze and destroy kelp and other macroalgae, enabling kelp forests to flourish and provide a rich array of ecological and economic benefits. The Elakha Alliance, an Oregon non-profit organization, is dedicated to using sound science, public support, stakeholder collaboration, and cooperation with state and federal agencies to fulfill its vision of an Oregon coast 50 years from now where our children and grandchildren enjoy and benefit from a healthy sea otter population, a resilient and robust marine ecosystem, and a thriving coastal economy. – Bob Bailey, Board President, Elakha Alliance

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#12 No more “Clearcuts for Kids”

For nearly a century, the logging industry has worked to link funding for education in Oregon with revenue from clearcutting public lands. They have done so while also working to reduce or eliminate taxes on their own profits. On U.S. Bureau of Land Management forests in western Oregon the 1937 O&C Act sends 75% of logging revenues to county budgets. In far northwest Oregon, local county governments receive a chunk of timber sale receipts from the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests. In recent years, with financial backing from the logging industry, these same counties have sued the state for $1 billion more claiming that state forest managers haven’t logged aggressively enough. For too long, county politicians have backed unsustainable logging to keep county coffers full. The State Legislature and Congress should break this environmentally destructive cycle by de-coupling logging levels from funding and support schools and other services from more sustainable sources. – Steve Pedery, Conservation Director, Oregon Wild

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#13 Free the Snake River

Snake RiverNimiipuu Protecting the Environment has primarily worked with Nez Perce Tribal members both young and old in the past five years to ensure that our Treaty Rights to hunt, fish, and gather are protected for the next generation of tribal members. Looking at these issues, we have been watching the diminishment of Salmon runs that extend up to our traditional territories in Idaho. As we have fished for generations and the Salmon are an integral part of our culture, ceremonies, and culture this has become a major focal point for our efforts. We as a group believe and feel that the main method to assist in any type of Salmon restoration is to breach the lower Snake River dams. We feel that the science supports this and politics have kept the breaching from coming to fruition. I know we are not alone in this belief. Many researchers, agencies and groups agree this is the only tangible path to Salmon recovery. – Julian Matthews, Coordinator, Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment

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#14 Giving Oregon more than one National Park

Spend enough time with Oregon Wild and you’ll undoubtedly hear about Oregon’s Wilderness deficit – that when compared to our neighboring states, we are lagging behind where it comes to this crucial protection. But Oregon isn’t just Wilderness poor, we are parks poor too! Think of the bounty of National Parks in Washington and California, places like Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Olympic, and Rainier. Oregon should be proud of lonely Crater Lake, but we should also aspire for more. It’s not as if we lack places that deserve the honor, many of which have been considered in the past, from the Oregon Redwoods to Hells Canyon. National Parks are different from other public lands designations, and can serve as a gateway for people who might not connect with Monuments or Wilderness. These are typically communities left out of public lands debates. Creating new National Parks in Oregon would make new opportunities to open the door and invite people in. – Arran Robertson, Communications Manager, Oregon Wild

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#15 No more state-sponsored timber industry propaganda

Since its founding, the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) has spent millions of tax dollars to wage an extensive PR campaign to contend that Oregon’s forest laws are modern and science-based. OFRI has worked unrelentingly to put a green sheen on clearcutting and toxic spray through slick commercials that communicate the industry's primary message that Oregon’s forest ecosystems are fully protected by “landmark” forestry laws. Without legislative action, OFRI will continue to spin its one-sided story without addressing the very objectives it professes to care about – the impact of forest practices on clean water, healthy forest ecosystems, and truly sustainable communities. Two solutions come to mind: 1) Direct taxes from logging to address the impacts of these practices by funding fire risk reduction near homes and communities and 2) working with landowners to certify more land under the Forest Stewardship Council, the current gold standard for sustainable forestry. – Ralph Bloemers, Senior Attorney, Crag Law Center

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#16 Reconnecting the landscape for wildlife

The Pacific region is a landscape draped with a rich diversity of vegetation and roamed by some of the most charismatic wildlife inhabiting North America. In recent decades the Pacific continues to be developed at an alarming rate, transforming landscapes so drastically that native habitats, species, and migration are swiftly being lost, diminished, and impeded. Our rapidly changing climate adds another layer of urgency. Wildlands Network is pursuing conservation strategies recognized as the ecological antidote to the biodiversity crisis and the critical link in climate adaptation: we work to protect at least 50 percent of our earth’s surface area as core habitat for the full suite of biodiversity connected by functioning, protected wildlife corridors, flyways, and aquatic systems. Specific efforts underway to meet this vision include working to pass the National Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act, a bill which would help fund and develop a roadmap for protecting and restoring critical habitat corridors across the United States. – Jessica Walz Schafer, Pacific Wildway Director, Wildlands Network

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#17 Believing in the power of beavers

BeaverAs climate change and its impact on wildlife, water, and forests worsens, loss of biodiversity intensifies, and habitat degradation expands, we need concrete plans to keep ecosystems thriving. Beavers are an important tool to help combat some of the worst effects of these environmental crises. Known as ecosystem engineers, beavers provide a number of environmental services such as creating and restoring habitat like wetlands, recharging groundwater, slowing storm water flow, and much more. It has been said that next to humans, beavers do more to shape their environment than any other animal. However, in Oregon they are still considered a predatory species, not seen as a solution to some of our ecological challenges, but a nuisance. To comprehensively address these environmental challenges, we seek to have an Oregon where beavers are statutorily reclassified (to remove unlimited hunting and trapping), and integral to any and all fish, habitat, and climate change restoration and recovery plans. – Danielle Moser, Wildlife Policy Coordinator, Oregon Wild

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#18 Refuges for wildlife, not agribusiness

The Klamath Basin once contained over 350,000 acres of marshes, wet meadows, and shallow lakes, but a massive federal irrigation project drained 80 percent of the region's wetlands in the early 20th century. Today, the last intact wetland habitat is found on six National Wildlife Refuges nestled on the Oregon-California border that have long been called “the Everglades of the West.” Yet every year 22,000 acres of these vital public lands are leased to private agribusiness, forcing wetlands to go dry while commercial row crops on refuge land are fully irrigated. U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden should end this shameful practice by introducing and passing legislation to ensure that water and wetlands for wildlife take priority over commercial exploitation of our National Wildlife Refuges. – Steve Pedery, Conservation Director, Oregon Wild

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#19 Timber should pay its fair share

As timber companies log Oregon’s forests, generating large profits for shareholders, they impose overlapping costs on the rest of us. Their CO2 emissions impose climate-related costs (flooding, heatwaves, etc.). Their aerial spraying of poisons threatens our drinking water supplies. And their clearcuts degrade forest habitat, killing salmon and other species. How big are these costs? They’re huge. Decades ago, industrial timberland owners conned the governor and legislators into allowing them to avoid paying $300 million per year in property taxes, in exchange for promises to improve habitat, but they instead make habitat worse, not better. Climate-related costs from the industry’s annual CO2 emissions total more than $9 billion. What can we do? First, stop the tax breaks and other subsidies that support harmful forest practices. Second, increase taxes for landowners whose actions harm the rest of us. Most important, as quickly as possible, begin taxing those who emit CO2. – Ernie Niemi, Natural Resource Economics

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#20 Eat more plants to save the planet

Public lands lovers are faced with an important choice when it comes to what we eat. The science is indisputable – eating meat, especially beef, is incredibly harmful to native wildlife and a serious contributor to the climate crisis. The effects of livestock grazing are especially detrimental on public lands. For decades, the federal government has subsidized public lands grazing, offering bargain basement lease prices that allow cattle and sheep to destroy riparian habitat and native grasslands. Public lands grazing also invites conflict with native predators like wolves and grizzlies that encounter easy (and often unattended) prey, only to be hunted by predator control agencies at the behest of the livestock industry for doing what comes naturally. It’s high time to phase out public lands grazing in ecologically important areas, make grazing permit holders pay a fare rate, and think about our personal contribution to climate and habitat destruction when we shop at the grocery store. – Sean Stevens, Executive Director, Oregon Wild

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#21 Reform the 1872 Mining Law

America’s woefully outdated law regulating mining on public lands has been around since Ulysses S. Grant was president, and its age is showing. The law allows corporations to pollute watersheds and destroy habitat, extract hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of minerals, and leave taxpayers with the bill for cleaning up their mess. A prime example is the Formosa Mine Superfund Site just outside of Riddle, OR. Decades after mine operators abandoned the cite, the EPA and BLM are still working to clean up toxic mine tailings that pollute local groundwater. Federal legislation is needed to: 1) require mining operations to pay royalties based on the actual value of the minerals, and use that money to restore watersheds; 2) strengthen environmental protections and ensure that special places are off limits to mining; and 3) require mining operations to post bonds to ensure taxpayers are not stuck cleaning up their mess. – Steve Pedery, Conservation Director, Oregon Wild

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