Notice: Undefined index: HTTP_REFERER in /home/stparch/public_html/headmid_temp_main.php on line 4394
Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
December 8, 2011     Shelton Mason County Journal
PAGE 3     (3 of 22 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
 
PAGE 3     (3 of 22 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
December 8, 2011
 
Newspaper Archive of Shelton Mason County Journal produced by SmallTownPapers, Inc.
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information
Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader




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 Fill out the coupon and drop it off at any participating Mason County business! Your name will be entered into a 00 weekly drawing for a gift certificate for I00°-° & Grand Prize of $500- from parcitipating merchants. Drawings will be held on Wednesdays beginning November 23% Final Grand Prize Drawing on December 21~t. 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. re.u a She.ton ason Count ourna, Su scr, er: CJ.o Carhartt K184 Heavyweight Hooded Sweatshirt oo i e Christmas Sale On Now! SKIPWORTH'S when,oobr,ng h,sS , wor h cou on I ii Good now through 1212412011 Hard c~t work since 1889: 414 Franklin, Downtown Shelton OPEN Mon-Fri 8:30-5:30, Sat 10-5:30 1603 Olympic Hwy. N., Shelton • 426-0875 Open Tues-Fri 8:30-5:30 & Sat 8:30-4; Closed Sun & Mon 360.426,4702 or CALL TOLL-FREE 1.800,456.4702 A Large Stors with Small Pdces! 75 Years in Shelton. Same Family Ownemhip. Fine Furniture for Your Home )% Open 10-5:30 Mon-Fri. (and until 9 pm Fri Dec. 2nd, plus I0-3 pm Saturdays in Dec.) Gary & D ..... O ..... 221 W. Railroad Ave., Suite C, Shelton S 426-5811 1st & Railroad, Suite 108 Monday-~iday 10"00-5"50 • Free ~i~t q/~rappingSaturday-Sunday !0:00-3:00 Huge 15th Anniversary Sale . White Ice Diamond Fashion Jewelry ..... SHELTON www;su ge bookslore, corn I 360,426,601 ] We've Got AUTO PARTS www.cutratsautoparts.com 1.1l'lappy olidaY s ! First & Cota ~O 426-2800 ANTIFREEZE each Lowest price of the year Shelton-Mason County Journal -Thursday, December 8, 2011 - Page A-3