Published: Thursday, May 8, 2008
Bush signs Wild Sky into law
Herald Staff
WASHINGTON – President Bush signed legislation this morning to create the Wild Sky Wilderness, ending a nine-year political journey to provide tough federal protection on thousands of acres in eastern Snohomish County.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa., said she received the news in a phone call.
“It has been a long time coming,” she said. “This feels real.”
This will be the first new wilderness area created in the state in 24 years.
The new law limits what can occur on 106,000 acres north of U.S. 2 and the towns of Index and Skykomish. The area straddles the Beckler River and North Fork Skykomish River within the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Logging, mining and use of snowmobiles, off-road and other types of motorized vehicles will be banned.
Hiking, hunting, fishing, rafting and other recreational activities will be allowed. Also, float planes can continue using a large, high-mountain lake, and a paved recreation trail accommodating people in wheelchairs will be created.
Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wa., co-authored the legislation creating Wild Sky. It is one of the 61 bills covered under the new law.
This package also included a bill authored by Rep. Jay Inslee to give national park status to the site on Bainbridge Island where 227 Japanese-Americans reported before being sent to internment camps in 1942.
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