Bill > S352

This bill, the Devil's Staircase Wilderness Act of 2013, designates approximately 30,540 acres of federal land in Oregon, managed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as the Devil's Staircase Wilderness, making it part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, which protects undeveloped federal land. The Act clarifies that this designation does not affect Oregon's authority over fish and wildlife, nor does it create buffer zones around the wilderness area, meaning activities outside the wilderness can still be seen or heard within it, and it explicitly preserves the treaty rights of Indian tribes. Additionally, the bill transfers about 49 acres of BLM land north of the Umpqua River to the Forest Service for management and amends the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate specific segments of Franklin Creek and Wasson Creek in Oregon as "wild rivers," a classification under that Act that protects free-flowing rivers and their immediate environments.