Wilderness News

A long-stalled plan to wall off more than 106,000 acres of Washington state wilderness from motorists and loggers moved one step closer to becoming law Thursday when the Senate passed a bill authorizing the project.

The measure, which would create the Wild Sky Wilderness Area, now heads to the House, which is expected to pass it quickly and send it to President Bush. The president has not indicated whether he would sign the legislation.

This is the closest the measure has come to enactment since supporters began championing Wild Sky in Congress nine years ago.

A Washington County lands bill that has been revised to include more wilderness areas may garner support from environmental groups.

The once controversial bill has been revived, with the changes, by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. The Washington County Growth & Conservation Act of 2008, as it is called, would allow a little more than 9,000 acres of non-environmentally sensitive public land to be sold under local guidelines developed through a smart growth initiative called Vision Dixie, Bennett said.

The House yesterday approved a bill codifying the 26 million-acre National Landscape Conservation System, with Democrats prevailing over Republicans who claimed the designation would open the door to restrictions on grazing and other land uses.

The bill passed with a vote of 278-140, after the House adopted only a few of the amendments offered by Republicans intended to clarify the bill's language.

A bill that would create a 106,000-acre wilderness area in eastern Snohomish County is expected to finally come before the U.S. Senate this week, possibly as early as today.

Senate passage would create the Wild Sky Wilderness, which has had ups and downs in both houses of Congress since it was introduced in 2002. Three times, the measure passed in the Senate but languished in the House.

Protecting wilderness is not a partisan issue.

Former Republican Congressman Scott McIinnis and Doug Scott, who's been pegged "grandfather of the wilderness movement," shared the stage Friday night at the 2008 Colorado Wilderness Gathering: Wilderness for the New Century.

"They spoke together how wilderness can be a bipartisan issue," said Joe Neuhoif, Western Slope field director for the Colorado Environmental Coalition.

"McIinnis passed four wilderness bills while he was congressman from the third congressional district," Neuhoif said.

Two Oregon congressmen have a long way to go to pass a Mount Hood Wilderness expansion that also would add 4,000 acres to the Oregon Caves National Monument and protect 143 miles of Rogue River tributaries along the Rogue's Wild and Scenic section. But that doesn't mean the effort isn't worthwhile.

The Oregon Caves monument now covers just 480 acres of land. Expanding its boundaries would protect the watershed that feeds Sucker Creek and provide more recreational opportunities in the vicinity of the caves, which are a major tourist destination in the region.

Sportsmen are 38 percent of the active voters in New Mexico, according to 2004 research by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation. So it is not hard to see why some folks with purely political motives are quick to grab a gun, set up a photo-op and try to appear as "one of us" when they want to win an election or influence public opinion.

It's important for today's sportsman to look a little deeper when newcomers step into the newspapers or television cameras, with claims that they are "representing sportsmen."

Cadres of ranchers, conservationists, congressional staffers and heli-skiers have spent the past seven months wrangling over a proposal to expand wilderness areas in the San Juans. Include this area. Don't include that one. Reclassify this. Exempt that.

After all that meeting, mapping, negotiating, conceding, U.S. Rep. John Salazar's staff has a draft bill to reclassify 90,000 acres of public land in San Miguel and Ouray counties as wilderness.

I have returned to West Virginia after 23 years. One of my reasons for returning was to enjoy the forest and streams of our beautiful state.

In order to maintain the state's reputation as a haven for those who love to hunt, fish, hike, bike and kayak, we must protect and expand the wilderness areas. West Virginia has the opportunity to add to these wilderness areas.

I ask that our congressional delegation continue their support to preserve special places like Seneca Creek, Roaring Plains, Spice Run and East Fork of the Greenbrier.

Karen Fankhauser

About 10 miles south of Lake Mead you'll find a gorgeous lookout of jagged vistas as far as the eye can see. The Black Canyon Wilderness is home to dozens of desert flowers and wildlife, but it's being threatened by trash and abandoned cars left to rust.

Now one group of volunteers are trying to bring the beauty back to this wilderness.