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Wild Sky Wilderness: An Inclusive Process

Senator Patty Murray and Representative Rick Larsen have successfully addressed a number of issues and concerns which were raised by local stakeholders early on about the proposal in public meetings and workshops. They include:

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• Ensuring access for civic groups like the boy scouts to continue to use the popular Barclay Lake Trail in large numbers (Scout, Church & School Groups)

• Excluding 4,000 Acres of the Windy Ridge Area to Allow Continued Snowmobile Use in the Windy Ridge and Johnson Ridge Areas (WA State Snowmobile Association)

• Specifically directing the Forest Service to identify and prioritize new equestrian trails in the new Wilderness (Backcountry Horsemen)

• Limiting impacts of the Wilderness to a single limited use mountain bike trail and broadening the trail study in the legislation to consider new mountain bike trails adjacent to the wilderness area (Mountain Bike Clubs)

• Working with Longview Fiber to identify certain parcels as “priority acquisition lands” for future federal funding and not including other parcels located adjacent to the proposal (Timber Industry)

• Clarifying continued historical use of Lake Isabel by float planes under the 1964 Wilderness Act (Sea Plane Pilots Association)

• Providing the potential for a wheelchair accessible trails on part of the Rapid River Road in addition to preserving wheelchair access in wilderness under the Americans with Disability Act (Disabled Citizens)

• Including 400 acres of valley bottom forest, including groves of old growth cedar forest up to 700 years old identified by Index citizen Bob Hubbard in a public meeting (Local Citizens)

• Addressed a number of agency management concerns including continued use of a fire lookout, a repeater site necessary for rescue operations and technical boundary adjustments to address significant flood damage to a county road (U.S. Forest Service & Snohomish County)

 

Our Unprotected Wild Places

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