On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) advanced her Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act through a hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Public Lands Subcommittee, a key milestone in the legislative process toward becoming law.
The hearing came after a wave of new endorsements from sportsmen organizations — including the Washington Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and the Washington Council of Trout Unlimited — who sent a letter urging the Committee to pass Wild Olympics to protect hunting, fishing and salmon streams for the future against the increasing threats to public land.
The new endorsements bring the total number of sportsmen organizations backing Wild Olympics to nearly 40. The Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which Sen. Murray reintroduced in May with U.S. Representative Emily Randall (D, District 6) would permanently protect approximately 125,000 acres of Olympic National Forest as wilderness and 19 rivers and their major tributaries — a total of 464 river miles — as Wild and Scenic Rivers.
“The movement behind our Wild Olympics legislation continues to grow year after year thanks to the tireless work of our coalition of sportsmen, conservationists, Tribes, businesses, local leaders, timber communities, shellfish growers, and so many others,” said Sen. Murray. “(Tuesday’s) Senate hearing is a significant step forward for our effort to permanently protect key areas of the Olympic National Forest — a crown jewel in Washington state — while preserving world-class recreation opportunities and supporting local economies. As long as I’m in the Senate, I won’t stop fighting to win the support we need to get our Wild Olympics bill across the finish line and protect these treasured areas on the Olympic Peninsula for generations to come.”
The bill’s inclusion in the hearing came after Sen. Murray took to the Senate floor in August to block a public lands package that did not include the Wild Olympics bill. On the Senate floor, Murray said about the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act: “It is a carefully drafted, it’s a thoughtful piece of legislation and the grassroots support for this bill has only grown over the years. That is exactly the kind of bill which should be included in a bipartisan public lands package. I would invite the Senior Senator of Utah to visit the land this bill covers to help protect our Olympic National Forest. … I hope in the future we can work together in drafting a public lands bill that does include legislation like my Wild Olympics bill.” Designed through extensive community input to conserve ancient forests and pristine rivers, protect clean water and salmon habitat, and enhance outdoor recreation, the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act would set aside the first new wilderness on Olympic National Forest in over four decades and the first-ever protected wild and scenic rivers on the Olympic Peninsula.
With a strong foundation of overwhelming local support, the bill has made steady progress each successive Congress — passing the House with bipartisan support twice before and passing out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last Congress for the first time in the bill’s history.
Sen. Murray and former U.S. Reps Norm Dicks and Derek Kilmer spent years gathering extensive community input on the Olympic Peninsula to craft the carefully balanced legislation, which was first introduced in 2012. It would permanently preserve ancient and mature forests, critical salmon habitat, and sources of clean drinking water for local communities, while also protecting and expanding world-class outdoor recreation opportunities like hiking, camping, boating, hunting, and fishing. No roads would be closed, and trailhead access would not be affected.
Sen. Murray worked extensively with local and regional timber interests to remove any currently viable timber base from the proposal to ensure the legislation would have no impact on existing timber jobs, as confirmed in a 2012 Timber Impact Study by the independent Forester Derek Churchill.
Tuesday’s committee hearing came on a recent wave of other new local endorsements also rallying behind the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers Act against the backdrop of increasing threats to public land. The new additions bring the total number of local Olympic Peninsula and Hood Canal region endorsements to more than 800 endorsers, including the Quinault Indian Nation, Quileute, Lower Elwha Klallam and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribes; now nearly 40 local sportsmen organizations and fishing guides; the mayors of Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Westport and other local elected officials; businesses and CEOs; farms and faith leaders; conservation and outdoor recreation groups; and many others. Additionally, more than 14,000 local residents have signed petitions in support.
U.S. Rep. Randall:
“The forests, rivers, and wilderness of our region shape how we live, work, and play. And for communities around the Olympic Peninsula, access to these resources can make or break local economies,” said Rep. Randall when the bill was introduced in May. “This bill protects the remote wilderness we treasure while ensuring access where it is essential for livelihoods, recreation, emergency response, and cultural practices. Protecting our natural resources also means protecting local economies, livelihoods, and Tribal Sovereignty. I’m grateful to all who have shaped this bill and Sen. Murray for her leadership to secure the future of the community we proudly call home.”
Ashley Nichole Lewis, Bad Ash Outdoors (Taholah), sportsmen For Wild Olympics and member of the Quinault Indian Nation:
“Wild Olympics protects the Olympic Peninsula’s ancient forests, free-flowing rivers and salmon streams for the future,” Nichole Lewis stressed. “It will protect fishing, boating and hunting access without closing any roads, but it also permanently protects some of the last healthy upstream salmon and steelhead habitat left on the peninsula.”
Fred Rakevich, retired logger and 49-year veteran of the timber industry (Elma):
“I am a retired logger who worked for 50 years in the timber industry. I have also fished and kayaked most of the major rivers in the Olympics. I was born and raised in Grays Harbor, but have traveled halfway around the world. In all my travels, nothing impressed me more than the natural beauty of the Olympic Mountain Range and the clear running waters that begin their journey flowing toward the lands below. Timber is and always will be part of the Olympic Peninsula’s proud heritage. But our ancient forests and wild rivers are the natural legacies we will leave to our children and grandchildren. The bill protects our natural heritage while respecting our timber heritage.”
Casey Weigel, owner and head guide of Waters West Guide Service (Montesano) and member of Sportsmen for Wild Olympics:
“Through hard work and our passion for our rivers and fishing, my wife and I have grown our small business enough to be able to help three other year-round and seasonal local guides support families, who love fishing just as much as we do. I support the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild & Scenic Rivers Act because our rivers and our salmon are our lifeblood and, without them, businesses like ours, the local jobs they support, and the dollars they bring into our local economy would dry up. The Wild Olympics proposal would simply make the current safeguards protecting our rivers on the Olympic National Forest permanent. That’s all it does. It doesn’t change access or cost timber jobs. And if it did, I wouldn’t support it, because my family works in the timber industry. There are many challenges facing our rivers and salmon, with lots of debate and millions of dollars spent trying to help restore clean water and habitat downstream. But one basic, simple piece of the foundation we can put in place now that won’t cost any of us anything, is to permanently protect the healthy habitat on the federal lands upstream against any misguided attempts to develop them in the future. That’s why I am a proud supporter of the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers Act.”
