The proposed Cathedral Rock Wilderness Area is a cluster of basalt cliffs, curving juniper hillsides and a new, public, four-mile stretch of the John Day River.

But the only way for the public to get in will be to float the river. The way the boundaries were drawn, there’s a wall of private land blocking the ability of the public to get near it.

That was the intent.

That was what was agreed to in the proposed land swaps between the Bureau of Land Management and the two key private landowners.

And that is why this plan for the wilderness area should be rejected.

The Cathedral Rock proposal is a win in many ways. The BLM’s land in northeastern Jefferson County and southern Wasco County is a checkerboard. Private land and public land are jumbled together in a mess.

The land swaps fix that. Young Life, a Colorado Springs-based Christian group, and Cherry Creek Ranch exchange some of their land for BLM land. The BLM and wildlife get solid blocks of land, helping to create the Cathedral Rock area and a second wilderness area proposal called Horse Heaven.

Horse Heaven would be accessible by two public roads. Cathedral Rock gets zero.

That was done for a reason. The property owners near Cathedral Rock complain that there have been problems with poaching and trespassing off nearby Muddy Creek Road. The road can currently be used for accessing some BLM land.

The solution they liked was to draw the boundaries of Cathedral Rock with a sliver of private land between the road and the wilderness area. No parking areas. No access on foot.

The Jefferson County Commission protested the lack of public access. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs did, too.

The Cathedral Rock proposal is unquestionably better for wilderness and wildlife. But we don’t see how Oregon’s congressional delegation can support public land with a moat around it blocking public access.