Oregon Public Broadcasting

There was supposed to be a U.S. Senate hearing about a month ago, on a proposal to designate new wilderness areas in Oregon.

It was canceled when Senate Republicans stopped hearings, after the Democrats passed the health care bills. Wednesday, the wilderness hearing actually happened.

Rob Manning reports on the message delivered by one man who flew east and back for the hearing a month ago – and returned to speak, yesterday.

Nowadays there’s a Christian children’s camp in central Oregon where years ago lived the followers of Baghwan Shree Rajneesh. It’s the Young Life Washington Family Ranch. Their representative on land issues is Forrest Reinhardt. 

Reinhardt has flown to D.C. twice in the last few weeks to represent Young Life, other landowners and the advocacy group, the Oregon Natural Desert Association.

This time around, he conveyed their united support for creating 16,000 acres of new wilderness in two areas, called Horse Heaven and Cathedral Rock.

Reinhart favored proposed land exchanges, because they’d help consolidate ownership. Reinhardt told the public lands’ subcommittee that the part of central Oregon near New Life camp has a confusing checkerboard pattern of private and public lands.

It makes trespassing hard to avoid.

Forrest Reinhardt: “The hop-scotching processes whereby the public would be attempting to get to public lands, to rightfully hunt on those public lands, is next to impossible.”

Reinhardt says the worst example was two and a half years ago, when hunters stumbled into the middle of the New Life camp.

Forrest Reinhardt: “When confronted to let them know they were not on public lands – they were thoroughly convinced they were on public lands and quite argumentative with the staff – it sent the kids running in hysteria, as you might imagine, seeing hunters within a matter of about 100 yards, showing up with guns. It certainly wasn’t part of the program.”

Reinhardt says he wants to make sure there are adequate trespassing safeguards in the bill.