The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Dec. 14 approved a bill that would protect part of the Owyhee Canyonlands as wilderness.

Senate Bill 1890, the Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owyhee Act, would protect about 1.1 million acres as wilderness, allow for greater flexibility in managing grazing permits and enable community leaders to develop tourism and other projects with economic ramifications.

“We are thrilled to see bipartisan support on this legislation, and it reflects how so many people see protection of the Owyhee Canyonlands as a priority,” said Ryan Houston, executive director of the Oregon Natural Desert Association.

Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both D-Ore., in the past four years sponsored this bill and two predecessors. SB 1890 is the first to make it out of a committee.

The current bill’s progress is “significant because this shows really good momentum for getting the Owyhees protected by the end of 2024,” Houston said.

Visitation to the canyonlands has increased along with population growth in the region.

Southeast Oregon ranchers and business leaders in 2015 formed the Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition to develop a wilderness proposal as an alternative to a national monument designation.

A national monument campaign was started last September, partly in response to a lack of congressional action on the wilderness bill.

“We’re delighted we’ve achieved this major step forward, understanding that we’ve got a long way to go,” said OBSC representative Mark Dunn.

He agreed with Houston’s assessment that the bill’s advancement out of the Senate committee with bipartisan support is significant.

The legislation and its recent progress reflect “years of hard work by the ranching community and environmental interests to work out a compromise,” Dunn said.

OBSC opposes creation of a national monument.

Had SB 1890 been killed in committee, “the monument would have been a certainty,” he said.

If a monument is declared, it could match the legislation closely, Houston said.

“It’s important we get this across the finish line,” Dunn said of the legislation. If it passes both houses of Congress and is signed into law, “it could be precedent-setting for management of public lands for ranchers.”

SB 1890 calls for adaptive management of rangeland. For example, a grazing permit’s dates of use could be adjusted based on conditions on the ground — such as to allow grazing in September, in part to reduce fire fuel, he said.

The legislation “preserves both a treasured way of life and a treasured landscape,” Wyden said in a release. The bill “helps our state’s ranchers and the small businesses in eastern Oregon who call this breath-taking and nationally recognized area home” and is “the product of years of hard work with Malheur County ranchers, Tribes, conservationists and recreation lovers who all came together to develop what I believe should be a framework for conservation nationwide.”

The canyonlands encompass parts of Oregon, Nevada and Idaho, where wilderness protections took effect via legislation enacted in 2009.