Although the Middle Fork Valley near North Bend, WA is one of Western Washington’s truly wild places - with old-growth forests, alpine lakes, and white water rivers — throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s it was known as anything but an outdoor enthusiast’s retreat. The base of the 110,000 acre valley was used for garbage dumping, and a variety of anti-social activities — until Mark Boyar arrived on the scene. For nearly two decades the Seattle resident has worked tirelessly to protect and restore the area, making him a winner of Washington State’s esteemed Jefferson Award for Public Service in 2007.
Three-quarters of the Middle Fork valley is within the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest just 45 minutes from Seattle. The valley gets its name from the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River which flows through its center. In the ‘80s, ownership was split between government agencies, timber companies and private landowners, and no one was taking responsibility for policing the area. Trails were overgrown, campgrounds closed, and eventually law-abiding citizens stopped visiting the valley. Boyar and a coalition of environmental and recreation groups set out to change all of this.
The groups worked with the US Forest Service to replace a washed out bridge over the Snoqualmie River that would allow hikers to reconnect with the area. The footbridge and the Middle Fork trail were opened in the mid ‘90s. Response was so positive that Boyar co-founded the Middle Fork Outdoor Recreation Coalition, in hopes of creating and enacting a broad recreation vision for the entire valley, one that protected its wild character. Boyar reached out, adding local stakeholders and user groups to the coalition, including kayaking, rafting, mountain bike, hiking, and horse packing groups.
Two years later, he enlisted an even broader set of stakeholders to help create a blueprint for public use in the valley. Valley timber companies, private landowners, environmental groups, the local rifle club, and local community leaders joined coalition members to produce the Middle Fork “public use concept” plan. In the years since the plan was first put forward, Mark and his partners have helped oversee complicated land swaps and purchases to consolidate public ownership, run garbage cleanups, built miles of new trails, controlled invasive weeds and secured bi-partisan congressional funding for the valley. And nearly two decades and 20 Boyar-authored grants later, 98% of the area is now under public ownership. Three years ago a $2 million Forest Service campground was opened at the end of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road, across from the footbridge that started it all.
Mark’s work drew attention to the valley from recreationists and civic leaders of all stripes and political affiliations. In 2007, Mark stood next to Republican Congressman Dave Reichert at the new campground as Rep. Reichert announced his intent to introduce wilderness and wild and scenic river legislation for a key component of the Middle Fork vision — protection of the Pratt River Valley. The bill was designed to expand the existing and largely high-elevation Alpine Lakes Wilderness down into the lowland forested watershed of the Pratt River, a vital tributary of the Middle Fork. Although protection of the Pratt is the heart of the proposal, it would also expand wilderness boundaries along the Middle Fork itself, and in the South Fork Snoqualmie watershed.
The next Congress, Senator Patty Murray, fresh off of her Wild Sky Wilderness victory which created the first new wilderness area in Washington in over 20 years, added her name to the Pratt River bill and expanded it to include Wild and Scenic River designation for the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River itself.
Sen. Murray's and Rep. Reichert's bill would designate about 22,000 acres of mature low-elevation second growth forest and old-growth forest as wilderness. These forests are critical habitat for wildlife, protect an important trout fishery, and offer incredible solitude just 45 minutes from downtown Seattle. The Wild and Scenic River designations for both the Pratt and the Middle Fork would prevent dams from being built on the designated stretches of either river, ensuring the rivers would remain in their free-flowing state for generations to come.
Mark worked with local conservation groups, Sen. Murray, and Rep. Reichert to continue his style of local support building. As a result, a broad and diverse coalition of stakeholders currently support the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Expansion and Wild Pratt River Act. For example, local mountain bike groups — key stakeholders in support of the Middle Fork Valley recreation vision that Mark helped build in the 90’s — liked the idea of protecting the Pratt River Valley but wanted to be sure they could continue to ride on the Middle Fork Trail. The boundaries of the wilderness area were subsequently drawn to go right up to the edge of, but not include, the trail, ensuring the mountain bikers could continue their use under existing agreements.
As you read this, the bill has had smooth hearings in both the Senate and the House, with Washington’s junior Senator Maria Cantwell speaking in support of the bill and the inclusive process that went into creating it.
This spirit of inclusiveness touted at congressional hearings is what Mark has exemplified from the beginning of his work in the Middle Fork Valley almost twenty years ago. Campaign for America’s wilderness salutes this wilderness hero for being such an effective voice for our natural heritage. Congratulations Mark!
