Dunn’s effort needed to finally pass Wild Sky

It might seem a bit early to celebrate the success of the Wild Sky Wilderness bill passing the Senate — again — when it won’t come before the House until next year. But it’s not too early to start encouraging Republican members of our delegation in the House to get ready to push the legislation through once and for all.

Successful legislation often takes a great amount of time and a lot of misery to work its way through Congress before it ends up being signed into law. Remember the Schoolhouse Rock jingle, "I’m just a bill. Yes, I’m only a bill. And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill"? Wild Sky should have a tiny advantage because it has bipartisan support and has even received a "pass it and we will sign it" OK from a senior Bush administration official who touted the bill’s cooperative efforts and results. But today, it’s "still just a bill."

By now, many people here are at least familiar with the name Wild Sky, if not with the details of the bill. It’s 106,000 acres of roadless forest land in east Snohomish County and part of King County that will be protected by the pending legislation while still remaining inviting to people who participate in a variety of outdoor activities. It is the work of Rep. Rick Larsen and Sen. Patty Murray and passed the Senate recently with the help of Sen. Maria Cantwell, who also serves on the Senate Energy &Natural Resources Committee which approved it earlier this year.

Now Wild Sky needs the help of Rep. Jennifer Dunn, a co-sponsor of the bill in the House. Dunn must use her influence in the Republican-controlled House to see this non-political bill through the final stages. In fact, the only thing political about this bill is the fact that Larsen and others have acknowledged they need Dunn’s help to see this come to fruition.

There’s no excuse to wait on this any longer — not even the fact that Murray’s Senate seat is up for election next year. It was bipartisan before and it is bipartisan still.