As we write this, it looked like Donald Trump will be the next president and the U.S. Senate will be controlled by Republicans. The results for the House of Representatives were still unclear.

We were thinking about what a lame duck President Biden and the lame duck Congress should do in the next couple months.

Our prediction: They will not do much. So we know this may be more wishful thinking than the path history will take.

We would love to see Biden and Congress move forward on protecting the Owyhee Canyonlands.

That part of Eastern Oregon can be so achingly beautiful it can seem fake. It deserves more protection.

Let’s list things that are exasperating about Congress. The lack of bipartisanship. The years it can take to do anything. And more.

This month Oregon Congressman Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, reminded people on X, formerly Twitter, about a move he made to block certain protections for the Owyhee Canyonlands.

Some will find that exasperating. It’s not, though, completely different from what Oregon Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have been advocating. There is room for bipartisanship. But we bet you can guess how this story ends.

Mary Fleischmann, the leader of the Central and Eastern Oregon Bitterbrush chapter of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness, details the decades-long effort towards securing permanent protection for the Owyhee. She emphasizes the immediate action needed from Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and President Biden to ensure its preservation.

The Owyhee Canyonlands, a 2.5-million-acre expanse of unprotected wilderness, needs federal recognition. Within its boundaries, there are hundreds of species that depend on the canyonlands, ranging from golden eagles to the greatly beloved sage grouse. Not only does it provide a home to more than 200 species of fish and wildlife, it also supports numerous endemic plant species, some of which are found nowhere else on this planet.