©2025 League of Conservation Voters
1984 Scorecard Vote
281
99
53
Issues
The vote is on a compromise wilderness bill agreed to by timber interests and environmentalists. It protected 945,000 acres of National Forest land by designating it as wilderness, while it opened up an even larger area which had been temporarily closed to logging. The bill also protected some 8,900 commercial and Indian fishing jobs by preserving the upstream and coastal watersheds on which the salmon depend. Nonetheless, Oregon’s two anti-wilderness Congressmen still opposed the bill (most of the wilderness was in their districts).
The bill contained extensive wilderness expansions and designations in places like the Middle Santiam River in the spectacular Cascade mountain range; the north fork of the John Day River, the largest remaining spawning stream for wild salmon; the first and only wilderness in the lush temperate rain forest in the Coast mountain range; and huge areas in eastern Oregon. Some wilderness areas had virgin old growth timber with trunks up to eight feet in diameter.
Seiberling motion adopted 281-99; June 6, 1984. YES is the pro-environmental vote. (Seiberling motion to suspend the rules and accept the Senate amendment to the Oregon Wilderness bill, H.R. 1149.) President Reagan opposed the Seiberling motion, but he did sign the bill after it passed Congress.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters