Oregon lawmakers spoke Feb. 9 about the need to preserve public access to Abiqua Falls, and one lawmaker is already making plans for it to happen, after the Statesman Journal reported on the iconic waterfall going up for sale last week.
Lawmakers in both chambers said action must be taken to preserve the 92-foot waterfall outside Scotts Mills, after the Abbey Foundation of Oregon put the falls and 40 acres around it up for sale. The Mount Angel Abbey has owned the land since 1908 but has generally allowed public access via a remote and rough road and trail system.
“Very rarely does a generation get the chance to protect something truly special in the way that the (Tom) McCall and (Bob) Straub generation did but today we have that chance,” said Oregon House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, D-Tigard. “We cannot allow Abiqua Falls to become a commodity or a private attraction. That is not who we are as a people or as a state. The path forward isn’t fully clear yet but one thing is certain: we have to do something.”…