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MALHEUR COUNTY, Ore. - A proposal to designate a huge portion of land in Malheur County, Oregon, as a national monument, is causing a lot of concern. The proposal is backed by environmental groups wanting to preserve the 2.5 million acres of land, but in a recent vote in Malheur County 90 percent of residents said they didn't want the land designated a national monument.

Sunday afternoon in Jordan Valley hundreds of people gathered for a town hall meeting to discuss what they call a devastating plan for not only ranchers, but anyone who enjoys the land. They say a national monument designation means more regulations.

"We see this as an issue affecting everyone, not just the people that live here," said Elias Eiguren, who is a fifth generation cattle rancher in Malheur County.

He is passionately against a national monument designation.

"Mainly from the standpoint of access which is going to affect everyone who wants to visit this monument and recreate in it," said Eiguren.

He brought his son to the town hall meeting where around 300 others also came to voice their concerns.

Congressman Greg Walden, of Hood River, answered questions and promised to fight against he proposal.

"Where we have good partnerships already, plenty of management already, plenty of regulation already, we don't need another layer," said Walden.

"This monument would be size of Rhode Island and Maryland combined," said Walden. "It would be twice the size of Grand Canyon National Park.

Walden says if a national monument is declared boundaries will eventually be impacted with the possibility of road closures and reduced grazing rights. He says there would be a lack of land management as well.

Out west, there's a group proposing alternative ways of managing federal lands. It isn't the one occupying that wildlife refuge in Oregon; it's a coalition of Native American tribes that has proposed a new type of national monument in southern Utah.

Navajo, Hopi, Ute and Zuni tribal members — the original occupants of this region — are seeking, in their words, “to work constructively and respectfully with the Federal agencies” to protect nearly 2 million acres of their ancestral lands.

The next move is Obama's. To be sure, he should request and consider responses and suggestions from all sides on the tribes' national monument proposal. He can shape or modify it on many points relating to boundaries, preparation of management plans, dispute resolution and the roles the Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management will play.

I'm all for it. I wasn't for it sometime ago, but all the folks out west showed my light and that's it good for the FEDS to own everything.

I'm all for it. I wasn't for it sometime ago, but all the folks out west showed my light and that's it good for the FEDS to own everything.

I'm all for it. I wasn't for it sometime ago, but all the folks out west showed me the light and that's it good for the FEDS to own everything.

They have totally disregarded what we want or think about these takeovers.

He is talking about the many, many guys that support federal ownership and management of public land, and don't want local control, so they can hunt for free.

I figured he was being Sarcastic.

There is a backfire problem with that line of thought though. The Feds get it and then slowly end up shutting down the Hunting and Public Access altogether. Been watching it happen out here for years now.

One guy in a Jeep loaded down with those Brown Flapper Signs constantly moving them closer to the Main Roads totally disregarding the true Legal Boundary Lines.

It's outright Encroachment by theft and as Hunters they will be sorry they supported it at all.

number of years ago, a friend of mine had a deer tag, and wanted to go to this little spot where we both knew deeer hung out. But, he wanted to keep others out, so he put some of the little flapper signs up at the entrance to the valley . Nice quiet sucessful hunt. Some years later he was talking to a forest service guy about the area, and the f.s. guy was saying how they would like to catch the guy who moved those signs.
I was up by wickiup some years ago, and followed a road into a wilderness area. Little sign seemingly about ever ten yards, stay on the road. It led to a corral with horses in it out in the middle of nowhere. with fresh hay in the corral. govt was paying somebody to haul hay in there for feed. So the feds would have horses to ride in their now private range.
i was also up in the forest by williams in the snow a few years ago, watching forest service employees joyriding on the roads now prohibited to me. It's good to be one of the serf's on the king's land.

Interesting that it's just CONVENIENTLY in the same place that Bundy Bunch made themselves useful idiots for the Feds. That same bunch that only advanced the .gov agenda, remember. Yeah, I'm sure that's just coincidental...

What they ought to do is charter a couple of planes and protest in DC. They can rough it, bring camping gear, use the johns in the Capitol.
Direct citizen contact still works, even if it's only because the mucketies are SHOCKED when the rabble darken their doors.
The Antiquities Act needs to be repealed or limited to 500 acres. Right now it's a nuclear political bomb that short circuits Congress completely, all it is for is "legacy" building and gifting the Green groups for their votes.

Lots of whining here and a lot of BS stories.

If you're a local and not having your voice heard on public lands...then go look in the mirror as to the reason why.

I attend dozens of public meetings a year, and I can assure you that my voice is heard on BLM and Federal Land policy. Everything from RMP's, FP's, LUP's, FTP's, the list goes on and on. Funny thing is, I don't see many other people at those meetings...and I read the public comments received on dozens of issues (its public record BTW). Usually doesn't take long to read the comments received...as there aren't many to read.

If even 10% of those whining they have "no local control" would take the time to comment, they would find success in impacting land management decisions.

I have also commented on dozens of proposals...don't always get my way, but have on many issues. But, that's exactly what I would expect as the world doesn't revolve around me because I live in the West. There are 320 million public land owners out there, its absolutely unrealistic to believe that just because of zip code...I should always get my way on every federal land management decision.

IME, local voices carry much more weight, but you have to participate to be heard.