GOLD BAR — Hikers and wild animals will have a bit more room to roam this year with the addition of 149 acres to the Wild Sky Wilderness in the Cascade Range.
The U.S. Forest Service recently completed its purchase of the land to add to the recently-set-aside wilderness area, officials said.
The Forest Service also purchased 1,082 acres along the Pacific Crest Trail in the Cascades.
The Wild Sky portion cost $134,000, said Kelly Sprute, a spokesman for the Forest Service. The figure for the Pacific Crest Trail portion was not available Wednesday.
The additions to Wild Sky and the trail are within the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie and Okanogan-Wenatchee national forests, respectively, Sprute said.
After years of political battles, the Wild Sky Wilderness was sanctioned by Congress last spring. The designation set aside 106,577 acres north of U.S. 2. On that land, logging, road building, motorized vehicles and other industrial uses are banned.
The new portion is a former mining claim in the Wallace River Valley, downstream from Wallace Falls State Park, Sprute said. It’s about five to six miles northeast of Gold Bar, he said.
Where possible, the government is buying private parcels in wilderness areas and national forests to simplify boundaries and management issues, officials said. Contiguous ownership also eases the way for migrating animals, they said.
The Forest Service bought the Wild Sky land from the Cascade Land Conservancy and the land along the trail from the Trust for Public Lands. The groups had earlier bought the property from private landowners.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
