Washington, D.C. - Washington State wasn't a big part of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act just passed by Congress, but there may be some new wilderness acreage in its future, nonetheless. As Congress embraces the value of wilderness this month, two members of Washington’s delegation are part of the action.

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. Reichert acknowledges it often takes years to get wilderness legislation through Congress, but says this bill is starting out with support from both major parties.

"It’s the idea of bipartisanship and working together to make this an area that all of us can enjoy. It oesn’t matter what party you belong to, protecting our wilderness is important to all of us."

The bill would also protect portions of the Snoqualmie and Pratt Rivers. It took nine years for the newest Washington wilderness area, Wild Sky, to make it through Congress. Murray and Reichert say, what they learned from that experience will be useful in this one. Murray expects some opposition from those who believe wilderness protection keeps too much land out of use for development, logging and mining. Their proposal is to widen the current Alpine Lakes boundaries to include land at lower elevations.

John Chelminiak North Cascades Initiative director for The Wilderness Society, says that’s important because it makes the area more accessible to more people.

"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."

Reichert and Murray hope the additional acreage will attract tourism dollars for the towns in the region, including Issaquah, North Bend and Snoqualmie. They say they already have local groups on board for what may be a long ride to see the bill through to passage.






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June is National Rivers Month and a proposal in Congress would protect more of Oregon's rivers.

Currently about 2% of Oregon's 110,000 miles of river are protected under the federal Wild and Scenic River Act. The River Democracy Act would add wild and scenic protections to 4,700 miles.

Kait Sampsel is co-owner of Humble Heron Fly Fishing and Fine Art, which operates on the Rogue River. She said safeguarding more rivers in the state is important for future generations.

"The idea is to be able to catch these things ahead of time," said Sampsel, "put in these protections ahead of time versus caught with our tail between our legs and go, 'Oh, man! There's a huge issue. If we would have seen the trend, we would have been on top of the ball.'"

The River Democracy Act has received pushback from Republicans in Oregon. They say it could hamper timber counties' ability to reduce forest fuels, which increases the risk of fire hazards.

Wild and scenic designation does not impact private property or traditional uses of the land like fishing and hunting.

Sampsel said rivers are a crucial part of the outdoor recreation economy in Oregon, which generates more than $15 billion in consumer spending. She said communities on the Rogue River, 36 miles of which is protected as wild and scenic, get that.

"The main vein, that Rogue River is running right through numerous communities," said Sampsel. "Without the river, those communities would suffer hugely."

The Oregon waterways included in the River Democracy Act were chosen from more than 15,000 suggestions sent to the office of Sen. Ron Wyden - D-OR.

Sampsel says there's an easy - and fun - way to help folks understand their importance.

"Start by going out and playing at your local river and building a connection," said Sampsel. "And that start right there - I hope that you'll understand why we're needing to protect these rivers."

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Montana is considering a purchase of land in the central part of the state that could open up access to more than 100,000 acres of public land.

Educational flights are taking place starting today to tour the Big Snowy Mountains, which could see more visitors with the purchase of a ranch in the southern foothills.

The 5,600-acre ranch was gifted to Shodair Children's Hospital when its owner died. Craig Aasved is CEO of the hospital.

"We knew we would likely not hold onto that property," said Aasved. "But what was most important to us is selling that property but selling it where it would be to a buyer that would make it public for citizens of Montana."

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has concluded an environmental assessment of the purchase, which would be known as the Big Snowy Mountains Wildlife Management Area, and concluded it wouldn't have any negative impacts.

Public commenters opposed to the proposal raised concerns about noise, increased risk of fire because of human use in the area and loss of grazing.

Glenn Ellison is a retired wildlife biologist and Montana Wildlife Federation board member. He said the Big Snowy Mountains public lands are landlocked, so to speak, by private lands surrounding it, providing few access points for hunters and recreationists.

"This is a really big deal for the public," said Ellison. "Not only is the land itself valuable wildlife habitat and recreational land, but it opens up a vast area beyond that that was heretofore, for all practical sense, inaccessible for the public."

The elk population in the area is 900% above the targeted level, according to Fish, Wildlife and Parks. State Sen. Jeff Welborn - R-Dillon - said those elk impact private lands and opening access to hunters could benefit those land owners.

"If that helps harvest animals in that area to get more to an objective level, to me that looks like a win-win for everybody," said Welborn, "both the public-land hunter and the private-land owner."

To pay, in part, for the acquisition, Fish, Wildlife and Parks has proposed using state funding from Habitat Montana, a program that gets some of its funding from recreational marijuana sales.

June is National Rivers Month, and conservation groups are pressing the U.S. Senate to vote on the
PUBLIC Lands Act, a bill that would add protections to 500 miles of rivers and more than a million acres in California.

The bill already has passed the U.S. House as part of the Protecting America's Wilderness Act.

Graciela Cabello, director of youth and community engagement for Los Padres ForestWatch, said it would greatly benefit public lands in Northwest California, the Los Angeles area and the Central Coast.

"In the Los Padres, it's going to protect over 288,000 acres of wilderness, and it's going to create two scenic areas, safeguard over 159 miles of Wild and Scenic rivers," she said, "and then, it also adds protection to the Carrizo Plain National Monument."

Advocates also are hoping the California Legislature will use part of the state's budget surplus to fund climate-resiliency projects across the state. In addition, passage of the PUBLIC Lands Act would bring California much closer to its goal of conserving 30% of public lands and waterways by 2030.

Shanna Edberg, conservation program director for the Hispanic Access Foundation, said low-income communities also deserve better access to nature.

"Having protected nature nearby you can help you be more resilient," she said, "and can even prevent some of those impacts."

She noted, for example, that shade trees in neighborhoods bring down air-conditioning costs, and healthy soil absorbs more water and reduces flooding.

The Hispanic Access Foundation will hold a stargazing event to draw attention to the PUBLIC Lands Act on June 24 in Frazier Park, which is part of the area that would receive more protection.