PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s U.S. senators have proposed a conservation package that would protect thousands of miles of the state’s rivers from development.

Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley on Wednesday announced the River Democracy Act of 2021, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. It would add nearly 4,700 miles of Oregon rivers and streams to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system.

The bill would almost triple the number of river miles with Wild and Scenic protections in Oregon and includes waterways in most of the state. It would also expand the amount of land protected in Wild and Scenic River corridors from a quarter-mile on both sides of the river to a half-mile.

It amounts to one of the biggest public lands conservation proposals in state history.

“I was completely blown away by the number of miles included,” said Gena Goodman-Campbell, who directs the stewardship program for the Oregon Natural Desert Association.

The bill aims to boost recreation, protect water quality and wildlife, safeguard cultural resources and foods, and mitigate wildfire risk. It comes following a public process spanning years in which Oregonians nominated waters for protection.

“Oregonians made it loud and clear: they cherish Oregon’s rivers and want them protected for generations to come,” Wyden said in a press release. “More protected rivers and clear management objectives means more jobs, improved wildfire resiliency and a guarantee for the livability of Oregon.”

The senators’ proposal drew praise from conservationists, outdoor recreationists, public officials and others.

Congress approved the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968. The law outlines three designations for protection — wild, scenic and recreational.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Wednesday announced legislation that would maintain Oregon’s water and air quality rules at the same level or higher than they were the day before President Donald Trump took office.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that one of the goals of the legislation is to protect public health welfare from the adverse effects of pollution and climate change.

With the new legislation, called the Oregon Environmental Protection Act, Brown said she is looking to inspire a national movement of states to oppose what she called the “unprecedented and aggressive attack” on clean air and water.

The Trump administration has undertaken several actions to overturn or delay environmental laws from taking effect, ranging from carbon-emissions goals in the Obama-era Clean Power Plan designed to help the United States meet international climate goals to protections for wildlife — and from regulations of pesticides, ozone and mercury to expanding fossil fuel development on public lands.

With the new legislation, called the Oregon Environmental Protection Act, Brown said she is looking to inspire a national movement of states to oppose what she called the “unprecedented and aggressive attack” on clean air and water.

Brown’s proposed legislation focuses on the federal Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. Both are regulated and enforced at the state level by Oregon agencies such as the Department of Environmental Quality, the Oregon Health Authority and the Water Resources Department. In most instances, the federal laws allow states to establish more stringent environmental protections than required nationally.

The governor’s office said, if passed by the Legislature, the legislation would maintain Obama-era ozone emission standards, regulate methane and other pollutants from landfills, as well as mercury emissions from the state’s one remaining coal power plant and extend water quality protections to some to the state’s rivers and streams.

The state Legislature, which is controlled Brown’s fellow Democrats, has balked at some new environmental legislation in recent years.

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