Arguments against just don’t add up

I’ve listened to the arguments of opponents of the Wild Sky Wilderness and I strongly believe that many of their points carry very little, if any, weight.

One argument states that wilderness areas are only for the athletically elite and discriminate against families with children and those with limited physical ability. That carries very little weight with me when I consider my youngest daughter, age 10, who only seven years ago had major heart surgery; will sometime in September have hiked 100 miles this year, and most of that in wilderness areas. That includes the Glacier Peak Wilderness, Henry M. Jackson Wilderness, the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

As far as physical ability, I’ve suffered two stress fractures in my left ankle, torn ligaments in my right knee, a hernia, and a bulging disc in my back, but I don’t let it stop me from getting out.

As far as roads and bridges in the proposed wilderness that supposedly should keep it out of the wilderness designation, many of our wilderness areas have man-made structures, (lookouts, trails and bridges). So explain to me why overgrown logging roads and bridges should keep the area from becoming a wilderness area.

Don Stobbe

Gold Bar