Washington Land Grabs in the News

Titled, Some New Wilderness for WA, Too?, an article at Public News Service informs us that, "Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash) have introduced a bill to expand the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area in the North Cascade Mountains by 22,000 acres."

The article quotes Reichert as saying, "It’s the idea of bipartisanship and working together to make this an area that all of us can enjoy. It (d)oesn’t matter what party you belong to, protecting our wilderness is important to all of us." (Emphasis added -- Tom)

True to the parameters of Orwellian Newspeak, it is obvious that "all of us" does not include ALL of us. But, I digress.

Apparently, this new bill would widen the boundaries of the existing Alpine Lakes Wilderness, expanding the area that (not) ALL of us can enjoy into lower elevations along the Snoqualmie and Pratt Rivers.

The article also quotes a John Chelminiak, identified as the North Cascades Initiative Director for the Wilderness Society, saying, "It will be a spectacular place to take your children and experience wilderness without having to go to the top of a peak, almost virtually in the backyards of the communities of the North Cascades."

How much longer before these land grabs actually take our backyards?

The bill, known as H.R. 1769, "To expand the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in the State of Washington, to designate the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River and Pratt River as wild and scenic rivers, and for other purposes," is currently in the House Committee on Natural Resources. Although the bill is listed on Thomas, the text is not yet available from the Government Printing Office. The companion bill in the Senate is S. 721 for which, at this point, almost no information exists in online sources. You might check Thomas or set up an alert on GovTrack if you're interested in further developments of this legislation.

The Public News Service article, by Chris Thomas, can be read at the link here.

On a related note, our Senator Murray is also sponsoring a bill, S. 635, that would add 14.3 miles of Illabot Creek in Skagit County lying outside the Glacier Peak Wilderness to the Wild and Scenic Rivers System. This bill, currently without co-sponsors, is in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee of the Senate.