Senator Ron Wyden is hosting another round of town hall meetings this month, offering you a great opportunity to let the senator know, in person, you oppose his plan for more clearcuts and fewer protections for wildlife on our public O&C lands and backyard forests.

We've listed the next four town hall meetings on Senator Wyden's schedule in Springfield, Oregon City, Astoria and Scappoose, along with sample questions you can ask or share with your friends or family if you have an opportunity to ask Senator Wyden a question. We've included additional background information on Senator Wyden's O&C proposal below.

We hope you can make it to one of these meetings near you to let Senator Wyden know there are better ways to fund our counties than with more clearcuts and dirtier water on our public lands.

Can't make it to any of these town hall meetings? No problem. Learn more about  writing a letter to both Senator Wyden and Jeff Merkley here.

Lane County Town Hall
Wednesday, January 22nd at 9:30 am
Thurston High School Auditorium
333 58th St.
Springfield, OR

Clackamas County Town Hall
Friday, January 24th at 2:30 pm
Pioneer Community Center
615 Fifth St.
Oregon City, OR

Clatsop County Town Hall
Saturday, January 25th at 1:00 pm
Columbia River Maritime Museum
1792 Marine Dr.
Astoria, OR

Columbia County Town Hall
Saturday, January 25th at 4:30 pm
City Hall
33568 E. Columbia Ave.
Scappoose, OR

Sample Questions and "Copy Points"

1.)  I'm very opposed to your recent O&C lands legislation. The O&C forest lands are our backyard forests, providing clean water, wildlife habitat, nearby recreation, and quality of life for thousands of Oregonians. Your proposal increases logging, including logging close to streams, which will harm these values. Please withdraw your O&C bill, and focus instead on protecting Oregon's natural treasures, like older forests that have never been logged, and the wildlands around Crater Lake.

2.)  I'm disappointed with the aggressive logging proposal you've proposed for public lands in Western Oregon. As Oregonians, my family and I value our quality of life, including clean water and amazing recreational opportunities. Instead of harming these values through more logging, will you please instead focus on protecting our world-class Wilderness treasures for future generations?

3.)  As you may know, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the 1964 Wilderness Act is upon us. While some of Oregon's natural treasures have been protected, we lag far behind our neighboring states and have only protected four percent of Oregon. Four percent! Your O&C lands bill protects a few special places, but otherwise focuses on aggressive logging of our public lands. What will you do to create more balance and better protect more Wilderness in Oregon?

4.)  I value our public forests because they provide clean water for my family and I (or for hiking, fishing, as a refuge for wildlife, as a store for carbon in our changing climate, or other issue), so I am very concerned your recent O&C proposal would remove the public's voice from the decision-making process in how our forests are managed. It's critical the public have a real voice in what happens in our forests. Will you please change your position to protect the rights of Oregon citizens to have a voice in how our public BLM lands are managed?

Additional Background Information

Oregon Wild's Eugene staff has done an analysis of Senator Wyden's O&C proposal, and distilled it down to a very short synopsis, and a longer briefing paper detailing the proposed legislation. These pieces and other pertinent information on the Wyden O&C legislation can be found at the Oregon Wild website. Maps of Senator Wyden's proposal are also available on his website.

Thank you again for your involvement to help protect Western Oregon's Backyard Forests, and for your support of Oregon Wild in our anniversary year of 2014!