Owyhee River.

The Owyhee Canyonlands is where Wilson Wewa’s grandson marveled that it was so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat.

It is where you can look up and see a dazzling, star-filled night sky, look down and see a river enameled green, hemmed in by sheer cliffs.

And it is where Wewa, a Paiute elder, conservationists and others would like President Biden to use the Antiquities Act to protect the Owyhee with national monument status.

The Oregon Natural Desert Association, Trout Unlimited, Friends of the Owyhee and many others are pressuring Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Democrats, to ask Biden to do it.

The groups want greater protection for Owyhee. It is now in various statuses from wilderness on down to land held by the Bureau of Land Management with no special designation. The land is rugged and remote but growing in popularity. If it is not protected, the sweet country will sour.

Wyden and Merkley do want protection for it. They have worked with the people that live near it, ranchers, conservation groups and more to create legislation. They believe legislation is the best path, not a presidential declaration.

Their legislation would basically take about 1.1 million acres in the Owyhee Canyonlands under the protection of wilderness and do a similar thing for about 15 miles of the Owyhee River. It includes protections for ranchers and lands for the Burns Paiute tribe.

“While a national monument designation would achieve many of the things that would benefit local tribes, ranchers and outdoor enthusiasts, it doesn’t do it all,” Wyden’s office said in an email. “That is why Senator Wyden wrote the bill to encapsulate everything that can be done to preserve this land for generations to come, while also bearing economic practicality and opportunity for Oregonians today and into the future.

Merkley’s office also responded.

“The Owyhee Canyonlands are one of Oregon’s greatest outdoor treasures and worthy of national attention,” Molly Prescott, Merkley’s Oregon press secretary told us in an email. “Senator Merkley is a cosponsor of the Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owyhee Act and is committed to working with Senator Wyden to see it enacted into law this year. The ultimate goal is to permanently protect the Owyhee Canyonlands, and Senator Merkley believes his legislation with Senator Wyden will do just that because it is the best product of extensive engagement with communities that call the Canyonlands home, and it includes important provisions to transfer lands into trust for the Burns Paiute Tribe that cannot be accomplished without the legislation.”

Wyden and Merkley tried when President Obama was in office to persuade him to use the Antiquities Act to designate greater protection for the Owyhee. Obama did take other actions on monuments, but not for the Owyhee.

An April statewide poll conducted for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters with 800 interviews did show 73% of Oregon voters now support President Biden taking action to protect the Owyhee. Support was slimmer in Eastern Oregon, 58%. Support was also much higher for Democrats 95% than for independents, 76%, or 40% of Republicans.

It doesn’t seem that with the current make-up of Congress that the bill backed by Wyden and Merkley would even get a hearing in the House. A shame. And unless you can convince President Biden, it seems he may not act, either.