Larsen tours proposed wilderness
Published 9:00 pm Monday, August 13, 2001
By Jim Haley
Herald Writer
INDEX — Charlie Raines leaned forward and pointed at the jagged, 5,600-foot granite mountain peak at close proximity to the airplane window.
It was Eagle Rock.
Not far away loomed Ragged Ridge.
They were just two of the many jewels that would make up a new wilderness area if legislators are successful getting a bill through Congress.
"It’s clear to me why the local communities and leaders in Index and Skykomish want to see these areas become part of the wilderness," said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who Monday took a bird’s-eye view fact-finding tour of the proposed Wild Skykomish wilderness proposal.
About 110,000 acres of roadless areas, some of it adjacent to other wilderness areas, have been proposed for preservation. Larsen, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., have taken an interest in wilderness legislation for this area, most of which is in Snohomish County.
The area under consideration drains the Skykomish River and includes salmon habitat in the north fork of that stream.
Raines, the Sierra Club forest policy expert, led Larsen on Monday’s aerial tour, and explained that it’s rare for relatively low forested areas to be included in a wilderness.
When the last big wilderness bill was approved in 1984, peaks and other high country was included in an assortment of wilderness areas in Snohomish County and elsewhere. This proposal includes the peaks and low valleys, Raines said.
What would be the centerpiece of this mountain wilderness?
"That’s hard to say," Raines said. "Ragged Ridge has all the elements."
Those included lowland river areas stretching to forests, a beautiful lake and ragged peaks.
Larsen was invited on the Sierra Club airplane ride "to help educate him in any way we can assist in showing the wonderful land up there that needs to be protected," said Stacey Mitchell, Sierra Club conservation organizer.
No boundaries have been set, and conservationists are still trying to figure out what to call the proposed wilderness. Maybe Skykomish Peaks would do. Perhaps Eagle Rock.
And not everyone agrees the land should be designated wilderness, which would put it off limits to logging, large-scale mining operations, road building and use by any wheeled vehicle.
People still would be able to hike, camp, canoe and hunt.
There are no immediate plans for logging in this area, but that could change with the political whims, Raines said.
"Wilderness does make a difference in protecting it for the long term," he said.
At a public meeting last month, several people questioned whether the wilderness designation would affect private property, including numerous cabins near the north fork of the Skykomish.
Larsen, from Lake Stevens, said no active roads or private property would be included, except for some mining claims in the higher reaches.
"It’s important that people voice their concerns so we can address them," said Larsen, who suggested that those people contact his office in Everett 425-252-3188.
"The final boundaries have not been located, so we do need to know where the concerns are so we can address them beforehand," Larsen said.
Raines thinks there will be few conflicts, and they can be resolved.
"Any private property that has a cabin or home on it isn’t even being considered," Raines said. But some people will be able to look across the Skykomish River from their cabin and see wild country forever. I think if I had a cabin there … that’s something I’d want."
You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447
or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.
