Oregon Owyhee Wilderness and Community Protection Act (H.R. 6777)

Summary

The Oregon Owyhee Wilderness and Community Protection Act (H.R. 6777) is a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on December 17, 2025. The primary purpose of the bill is to establish a grazing management program on federal lands in Malheur County, Oregon, in order to provide more operational flexibility to authorized grazing permit and lease holders.

Key Provisions:

1. Malheur County Grazing Management Program: The bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish the "Malheur County Grazing Management Program" on federal lands in Malheur County, Oregon managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

2. Flexible Grazing Use Alternatives: For the renewal of grazing permits and leases, the Secretary must develop and analyze at least one alternative to provide "operational flexibility" in livestock grazing, such as adjusting the season of use or timing of pasture rotations.

3. Interim Operational Flexibilities: The bill allows the Secretary to grant variances to the terms and conditions of existing grazing permits and leases, upon request from the permit/lease holder, in order to adjust factors like season of use, pasture rotation dates, and water source placement. These variances can be implemented immediately without additional NEPA review.

4. Monitoring Plans: The Secretary must adopt cooperative rangeland monitoring plans to track utilization, ecological conditions, and progress towards meeting land use plan objectives. These monitoring plans will inform the operational flexibilities granted under the program.

Impact:

The key effects of this legislation would be:

• Providing more management flexibility and responsiveness to changing conditions for federal grazing permit and lease holders in Malheur County, Oregon.
• Requiring the development of collaborative monitoring plans to track rangeland health and support adaptive management decisions.
• Streamlining the process for making interim adjustments to grazing permits and leases based on up-to-date monitoring data.

Overall, the bill aims to balance environmental protection with support for the local ranching community and economy in Malheur County.