Everett, Wash.
Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008

Wild Sky Wilderness poised to finally become reality

The wilderness area in Snohomish County has long been a political football.

By Jim Haley, Herald Writer

 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.

Led by U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., the Democratic-controlled House approved Wild Sky a year ago, but about 62 federal land-use measures were stymied in a Senate bill in 2008. The House vote is good until the current session of Congress ends late this year.

That logjam is about to end, aides to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Wednesday. Murray is the prime Wild Sky sponsor in the Senate. Aides said the public lands bill has been scheduled for a vote, which could come today.

This would be the first wilderness created in Washington state in more than two decades.

Wild Sky would include both backcountry ridges and peaks as well as low-elevation, old-growth forests surrounding salmon and steelhead spawning grounds. House opposition earlier was fueled by concerns that about 13,000 acres of the site might not meet wilderness standards.

The wilderness would be north of U.S. 2 and the towns of Index and Skykomish. The area straddles the Beckler River and the north fork of the Skykomish River within the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Part of the new wilderness would be adjacent to the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness, which was established in 1984 and was named after the late senator from Everett. A wilderness designation gives the land strong federal protection, although some compromises are built into this bill.

Those include allowing some areas to be used by large Scout groups, letting float planes continue using a large, high-mountain lake, and creating a paved recreation trail that would accommodate people in wheelchairs.

While environmentalists have pushed hard for passage, the Wild Sky creation has run into strong opposition from farmers and ranchers, and from some sport enthusiasts such as snowmobilers, who would be unable to ride within wilderness boundaries. Most recently, a vote on the bill had been held up by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who was protesting proposed spending in a collection of public lands legislation.

The wilderness designation bans use of motorized vehicles, but allows a whole array of outdoor activities, including hiking, hunting, fishing and rafting.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA