Oregon Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley introduced legislation yesterday that would expand federal wilderness areas in central Oregon, including land once owned by a controversial religious sect implicated in a bioterror attack.
The legislation would enable the Bureau of Land Management to engage in a land exchange that would create two consolidated wilderness areas totaling 16,000 acres.
The wilderness areas would include nearly all of the Big Muddy Ranch, which in the early 1980s hosted a colony for followers of the Indian mystic and philosopher Baghwan Shree Rajneesh. Rajneesh, also known as Osho, advocated an open attitude toward sexuality and was highly critical of modern religions.
His followers -- known as the Rajneeshee or "Orange People" for their brightly colored robes -- clashed frequently with local residents. The conflict peaked when two top sect officials were convicted of intentionally setting off a salmonella outbreak among residents of The Dalles ahead of a local election in 1984.
The sect collapsed shortly after the salmonella convictions, and the Big Muddy Ranch was abandoned. It was bought by a private owner in 1990 and is now held by the Christian-youth organization, Young Life.
Along with the former Rajneeshee headquarters, the new wilderness would include land along the wild and scenic John Day River that is adjacent to the Spring Basin wilderness, an 8,600-acre wilderness created as part of the public lands omnibus bill passed in March (E&ENews PM, March 30, 2009).
Wilderness designations carry some of the federal government's strictest regulations on energy and timber development, but the senators said keeping the land in conservation would preserve the community's treasured places, protect local species and encourage tourism.
"Oregonians have a deep connection to their land. This legislation will strengthen that relationship by creating two wilderness areas that will preserve these natural treasures for generations to come and will serve as a hopeful postscript to the saga of the Rajneeshee colony," Wyden said in a statement.
