ONTARIO, Ore. — The Obama administration is well aware of the strong local opposition to a proposed national monument in Malheur County, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden told Eastern Oregon residents on July 21.

Malheur County residents who asked Wyden during an annual town hall meeting whether he supports the proposed national monument said they didn’t receive a definite answer.

But Wyden did say several times that the president is well aware of the local opposition to a proposed national monument on 2.5 million acres in a part of the county known as the Owyhee Canyonlands.

“I have told the Obama administration repeatedly … that there is very vigorous opposition at the local level to the monument,” the Oregon Democrat said. “They would have had no confusion about what I’m telling them.”

Supporters want Obama to use the Antiquities Act to declare a national monument in Malheur County.

Ranchers and others who asked Wyden whether he supports the national monument proposal being pushed by the Oregon Natural Desert Association told Capital Press later they didn’t receive a clear answer.

Malheur County Farm Bureau President Jeana Hall asked Wyden for a commitment to “stand up for the people of Oregon, not just here in Malheur, and say that there should not be a monument designation.”

Julie Mackenzie, a Jordan Valley rancher, asked Wyden, “Are you for the monument?”

Wyden said it’s his duty to respect how Oregon residents vote on issues. Malheur County residents voted 9-1 against the monument in a special election in March. He also said that while Malheur County residents have voted on the issue, the rest of Oregon has not.

“I didn’t hear an answer,” Hall told Capital Press later. “I think I heard a ‘maybe’ somewhere in there.”

Mackenzie said she asked the senator “a yes or no question and he didn’t answer it. It was just kind of a going around in circles type of thing.”

Wyden Press Secretary Hank Stern said he would let the senator’s words during the meeting speak for themselves but added, “I thought he expressed himself pretty clearly.”

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an Interior Department funding bill July 14 that includes a provision preventing funds from being used to create a national monument in Malheur County.

Jordan Valley rancher Elias Eiguren asked Wyden whether he would support a similar proposal in the Senate.

Eiguren said he and other ranchers came to the meeting hoping to get Wyden to commit to opposing a monument designation and supporting a proposal in the Senate similar to the one passed by the House.

Eiguren told Capital Press that didn’t happen.

“We would really hope Sen. Wyden will do what is good for the land and help us stop this monument,” he said.