With one stroke of the pen, President Trump brought success to a decades-long effort to protect 30,000 acres of old-growth rainforest in Oregon’s coastal mountains.

Trump signed into law a package of 120 public lands bills Tuesday morning that includes creation of a new wilderness area and protection of 250 miles of waterways under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in Oregon.

It was a rare moment of bipartisanship after the package of bills, which impact parks, monuments and forests across the nation, sailed through both the Senate and House.

Among the numerous bills in the package, a handful impact Oregon.

Explore Oregon Podcast:Wyden talks about how wilderness deal 'almost blew up,' plus how to visit mythic Devil's Staircase

Oregon Wildlands Act

The most notable legislation is a scaled-down version of U.S. Senator Ron Wyden’s Oregon Wildlands Act.

The bill creates the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness, applying the highest form of environmental protection to a remote patch of old-growth forest in the Coast Range northeast of Reedsport.

Environmental advocates have worked since the 1980s to protect the area, which gets its name from a multi-tiered waterfall on Wassen Creek.

“By designating the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness, President Trump follows the proud tradition of Republican presidents like Teddy Roosevelt who have stood up for the environment and done the right thing for the American people,” said Andy Stahl, who has worked toward protecting the area for almost 20 years.

New 'Wild and Scenic' rivers

The bill also designates more than 250 miles of Oregon rivers under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, limiting development along the streams, and protects southwest Oregon’s Chetco River from mining.

Passage of the legislation means Oregon has the most river miles protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in the Lower 48 states.

“Protected wildlands and waterways in Oregon are good for business, critical for great craft beer, and are part of our identity as Oregonians,” said Jamie Floyd, co-founder of Ninkasi Brewing Company in a news release.

Wyden, who pushed the Oregon provisions across the finish line, dedicated the bill to former Oregon governor Tom McCall, who championed environmental protection.

“Nobody understood better than McCall that protecting public treasures shouldn’t be a partisan proposal,” Wyden previously told the Statesman Journal. “In a day and age when it sometimes feels as though that sense of common purpose around public lands is slipping away, I’m hoping this bill is a sign of it coming back.”

Battle between Wyden and Walden

Although most of the sentiment over the public lands bill was positive, there was a behind the scenes battle between Sen. Wyden and Rep. Walden over what made it into the final bill.

The original Oregon Wildlands Act included two large recreation areas around the Rogue and Molalla rivers, plus expansion of the Wild Rogue Wilderness. It was stripped out after objections from Walden.

More:Oregon wilderness and wildfire bills threatened in dispute between Wyden and Walden

Oregon wildfire, steelhead provisions in public lands bills

Other bills in the package include Walden’s Crooked River Ranch Fire Protection Act, which removes 688 acres from a Wilderness Study Area to allow for better wildfire protection of the unincorporated community of 5,000 north of Bend.

Walden was the only member of Oregon's congressional delegation at the bill signing with Trump.

“In central Oregon, the 5,000 residents of Crooked River Ranch are worried they will become the next Paradise, California,” Walden said in a December statement. “I’ve worked with the community there on a simple public safety bill.”

Finally, the package includes the Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Special Management Area Designation Act, which prioritizes fish habitat on 100,000 acres in the Steamboat Creek area of the North Umpqua Canyon east of Roseburg.

Land and Water Conservation Fund

On a national level, the package reauthorizes the recently-expired Land and Water Conservation Fund, permanently.

The fund takes revenue from oil and gas drilling to support a wide range of conservation projects.

Groups criticize package as all show with no funding

A number of environmental groups nationwide said the package of bills was a step in the right direction, but was basically meaningless without fully funding public lands agencies and the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

“Without full funding for public lands access programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund, America’s public lands, parks and communities still are left with an empty promise," the Western Values Project said in a statement.

Wilderness Watch, a Montana-based public lands group, criticized elements of the bill for opening national parks to hunting, in some limited cases, and for a pipeline crossing Denali National Park.

Local reaction

Oregon environmental groups that had long fought for the legislation cheered the passage.

Groups that favor more active management of forests have generally opposed the plan. Nick Smith, executive director of the group Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities said the bill would make access more difficult in fighting wildfires.

"Several troubling components have been removed from the (original) bill, but the legislation will still impact fire prone forests in Western Oregon and will make public access, fire prevention, forest health treatments, as well as response more difficult for emergency personnel," Smith said in February.

Details of Oregon Wildlands Act

- Creates Devil’s Staircase Wilderness by designating roughly 30,000 acres of remote lands in the Oregon Coast Range.

- Permanently protects Chetco River from mining and mineral extraction.

- Designates 250 miles of Oregon salmon and steelhead-producing rivers and streams as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, including: about 120 miles of Rogue River tributaries; a 21-mile stretch of the Molalla River; 18 miles of Jenny Creek, which flows through the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument; 15 miles of Wasson Creek and Franklin Creek in the Siuslaw National Forest; and several important tributaries of the Elk River.

- Protects additional 40 miles of Rogue River tributaries from mining and future dam installations.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter, photographer and videographer in Oregon for 11 years. To support his work,subscribe to the Statesman Journal.

Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.