The Owyhee Canyonlands is a vital area of Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada. This special habitat is home to the Owyhee River as well as dozens of critical game animals. This region covers millions of acres in the three corners region of Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada. The Owyhee River, a tributary of the Snake, weaves for 346 miles through the region, and its watershed covers 11,049 square miles. The river provides recreation opportunities in a unique area of the West.

Please join Trout Unlimited, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, and National Wildlife Federation in asking President Biden and the Oregon congressional delegation to designate the Owyhee Canyonlands National Monument and ensure hunting and angling traditions can continue on this landscape for generations to come.

From Trout Unlimited:

The Owyhee is an integral part of the sagebrush steppe landscape that supports more than 350 species of fish and wildlife, including California bighorn sheep, pronghorn, elk, mule deer, sage grouse, brown trout, and native interior redband trout. But it’s not immune to our ever-changing world.

Tell President Biden and Congress to designate the Owyhee Canyonlands National Monument and ensure hunting and angling traditions can continue on this landscape for generations to come.  

Read the full article here.

What’s at stake?

The Owyhee Canyonlands faces threats from industrial scale mining along with energy exploration and development. Climate change also poses a serious risk for the Owyhee. The region is one of the fastest-heating areas in the state, a cause for alarm for the fish, wildlife, waters, lands, and communities that comprise this area. Protecting the Owyhee for its rich ecological values will help the land adapt to the pressures of a changing climate, including drought.  

After three decades of trying to protect the Owyhee, now is the time for action. Currently, only five percent of the canyonlands are protected. Oregon has one of the fastest rates of development in the West. Over the past two decades, the state has lost the equivalent of nearly 200,000 football fields of natural area. Without permanent protection, the Owyhee is not safe from the growing threats of development. 

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