December 8, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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Confusion surrounds wilderness Draft Congressional Proposal
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Rep. Norm Dicks and Sen.
Patty Murray sent members of
their staff to Shelton last Fri-
day night for a workshop to try
to dispel confusion about their
Draft Congressional Proposal
for Olympic Watersheds Protec-
tion.
According to the two elected
officials' representatives, the
proposal would protect old-
growth forests, river watersheds
and salmon habitat on the Olym-
pic Peninsula.
"I'm absolutely in favor of it,"
said workshop attendee Barbara
Silverstein. "Its outrageously
reasonable. There's nothing like
the Olympic Peninsula."
The proposal would protect ac-
cess to hunting and fishing areas
and encourages use of the rivers,
according to the representatives'
staff.
In Mason County, there are
several proposed wilderness ar-
eas north and west of Lake Cush-
man and near the Hamma Ham-
ma River.
First, the proposal would des-
ignate 130,000 acres of existing
federal land in the Olympic Na-
tional Forest as wilderness.
Wilderness is defined by the
Wilderness Act of 1964 as "an
area of earth and its communi-
ty of life untrammeled by man,
! !ii!ill¸!iiil/ i / i!I
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
Kristine M. Reeves, Kitsap and Olympic Peninsula
director for Sen. Patty Murray, explains the Draft
Congressional Proposal for Olympic Watersheds
Protection to concerned citizens in Shelton last Friday
night at the Shelton Civic Center during a staff workshop.
where man himself is a visitor
and does not remain."
The proposal would provide
permanent protection for old-
growth forests, according to the
elected officials' staff members.
Hunting and fishing are al-
lowed in wilderness areas, how-
ever the use of mechanized vehi-
cles, including cars, motorboats,
off-road vehicles and mountain
bikes are prohibited. Logging,
mining and other developments
are also not allowed.
The proposal also includes
National Preserve land. Three
potential national preserves, to-
taling 20,000 acres, have been
identified in the proposal. The
proposal suggests that the areas
be added to the National Park
system through a "willing buyer/
willing seller scenario," said Sara
Crumb, deputy district director
for Norm Dicks' office.
This means that if the owners
of these areas, which are mostly
timber companies, want to sell at
any point in the future, the na-
tional park system will have the
opportunity to buy the land.
Land in National Preserves is
permanently protected.
The last part of the proposal
would protect wild and scenic riv-
ers in Washington, including the
Hamma Hamma and the south
fork of the Skokomish River in
Mason County.
The proposal would designate
24 rivers on the Olympic Penin-
sula as Wild and Scenic Rivers.
This only applies to stretches
of the rivers on state or federal
land.
Some community members ex-
pressed enthusiasm about any
way to preserve wilderness at
the workshop; others were con-
cerned about many parts of the
proposal.
"There are lands that probably
ought to be wilderness ... and
there are lands that probably
don't deserve wilderness protec-
tion," said former Alaska State
Forester Bob Dick.
Dick also commented on the
Wild and Scenic Rivers proposal.
"One of the problems with
that ... is you drive a wedge of
lands that can't be used ... ac-
cess is the issue there more than
acres taken out of production,"
he said.
According to the proposal,
only portions of rivers that run
through state and federal land
will get "Wild and Scenic" desig-
nations.
Many people at F~iday's work-
shop asked how much money
would be involved in the propos-
al.
"There's no point in buying
more land when the country is
broke," said Bill Truax, who for-
merly worked with Boise Cas-
cade. "Why not spend that money
to build a road to tap into the for-
est."
The staff of the representa-
tives said that the proposal has
no money attached to it at this
point and would only act as au-
thorization to enact the protec-
tions in the plan.
The legislation proposed in the
proposal has not been written
yet, Crumb said.
Truax, as well as many other
people who attended Friday's
workshop, expressed concern
about access to wilderness and
preserve areas.
Several road decommission-
ing and road to trail projects
are planned in Olympic wilder-
ness areas, but none of them are
related to the proposal, Crumb
said.
"This doesn't have any im-
pact on what the forest service
already plans for that area," she
said. "There's been a lot of confu-
sion."
I Believe In Supporting Mason County Business!
Name
Phone
Comments
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weekly drawing for a gift certificate for I00°-° & Grand Prize of $500- from parcitipating merchants. Drawings will
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Fill out the coupon and drop it off at any of
the participating Mason County businesses
(below). Your name will be entered into a
weekly drawing for a SlO0°-°-gift certificate
& one Grand Prize of a $5000-°- gift certificate-
from the participating merchants. Drawings
are held on Wednesdays beginning
November 23rd.
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Shelton-Mason County Journal -Thursday, December 8, 2011 - Page A-3