Senator Murray Visits Wild Olympics
Feb. 8, 2022
Senator Patty Murray [D-WA] joined Wild Olympics leaders in July for a hike along the Dungeness River in Olympic National Forest. The party explored the stunning old-growth forest along the river trail to Royal Creek.
Earlier this year, the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support. The bill had a Senate hearing and passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Senator Murray told supporters, “We are closer than we’ve ever been.”
In the midst of another summer when wildfires raged across the West, OPA’s Tim McNulty discussed the importance of preserving ancient forests like these for the immense amounts of carbon they store both above and below ground.
Senator Murray, a long-time champion of the bill, praised the widespread support Wild Olympics has garnered. “We’ve managed to build as broad of a coalition as possible to get this done,” she said. “I’m glad I could spend some time with local leaders to talk about the importance of this legislation and what it will mean for the Olympic Peninsula.”
For more information, visit the Wild Olympics Campaign.
Wild Olympics Passes U.S. House for a Second Time
Updated July 1, 2021
Early in this Congress, the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act passed the U.S. House for a second time. And on June 16, the bill received a positive legislative hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. This is a key next step before being considered by the full Senate Committee. Attention now turns to our two environmental champions in the Senate: Patty Murray, who sponsored the Senate bill, and Maria Cantwell, who sits on the powerful Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Both are working hard to bring this important legislation to the president’s desk.
Thanks to years of effort by Representative Derek Kilmer, the bill passed as part of the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act with bipartisan support. This landmark legislation protects the best of the Peninsula’s remaining ancient forests and free-flowing rivers and salmon streams for future generations. It designates more than 126,500 acres of Olympic National Forest roadless lands as Wilderness and protects 19 rivers and their major tributaries as Wild and Scenic Rivers, the first ever on the Peninsula.
We’re close, but there is more work to do. Please contact your senators. Remind them that protection of wilderness and healthy wild rivers is critical to our country’s health and economy. Ask them to make sure the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act passes quickly in the Senate and is signed into law this year.
For more information on the Wild Olympics campaign, visit wildolympics.org. To read the Seattle Times editorial supporting Wild Olympics, click here.
Wild Olympics Bill Reintroduced in Congress
Feb. 15, 2021
On February 11, U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer reintroduced the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill will permanently protect more than 126,500 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. Senator Murray will reintroduce the bill in the Senate later in February. This legislation will designate the first new wilderness in the Olympic National Forest in over three decades and the first-ever protected wild and scenic rivers on the Olympic Peninsula.
“As we work to ensure that future generations can continue to enjoy the Olympic Peninsula’s natural beauty, I’m proud to once again partner with Representative Kilmer on the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild Scenic Rivers Act,” Senator Murray said.
“I’m proud to support this practical, balanced strategy,” Representative Kilmer said. “It will protect the wildest and most pristine places on the Peninsula while insuring we can keep and grow jobs in our natural resource industries and other sectors.”
The legislation comes at a critical time during the COVID-19 pandemic as Peninsula residents have turned to local public lands and rivers right in their backyards for their well-being. The reintroduction is a recognition of the restorative value of nature, especially during an unprecedented health crisis.
OPA commends the dedication of Representative Kilmer and Senator Murray. We have high hopes that this Congress will see Wild Olympics become law.
For more information on the Wild Olympics campaign, visit wildolympics.org.
The Campaign has released a stunning video featuring some of their most prominent local champions. Click the image below to view it.
Wild Olympics Act Included in Defense Appropriations Bill
Nov. 16, 2020
Updated Jan. 17, 2021
In February 2020, thanks to years of diligent effort by Representative Kilmer, the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act passed the U.S. House with bipartisan support. The bill was included in H.R. 2546, the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act.
Then, in July, Wild Olympics, as part of the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act, was attached as an amendment to the National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA). The NDAA passed the House and U.S. Senate, but the Senate version failed to include the wilderness amendment containing Wild Olympics.
A conference committee (appointed by the House and Senate to resolve bill differences) will convene this fall to negotiate and finalize the NDAA. This “must-pass” legislation is the best hope for Wild Olympics to date.
Wild Olympics legislation will protect the best of the Peninsula’s remaining ancient forests and free-flowing rivers and salmon streams for future generations. It will designate more than 126,500 acres of Olympic National Forest roadless lands as Wilderness, including some of the most popular hiking areas in the eastern and southern Olympics. It will also protect 19 rivers and their major tributaries as Wild and Scenic Rivers.
Please remind your senators that protection of wilderness and wild, healthy rivers is critical to our country’s health and long-term security. Ask them to make sure the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act is included in the final National Defense Appropriations Act. [updated Jan. 17, 2021: The Wilderness Act failed to be included in the Defense Appropriations Act.]
Wild Olympics Legislation Passes U.S. House
Updated Sept. 18, 2020
In February 2020, the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act passed in the U.S. House with bipartisan support. The bill was included in H.R. 2546, the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act. In July, Wild Olympics and the Protecting America’s Wilderness Act was attached as an amendment to the National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA). The NDAA passed the House and U.S. Senate, but the Senate version failed to include the wilderness amendment containing Wild Olympics.
A conference committee (appointed by the House and Senate to resolve bill differences) will gather after the election to negotiate and finalize full congressional approval and passage of the NDAA.
Please contact your Senators to make sure the wilderness bills are included in the Final National Defense Appropriations Act.
In the meantime, Wild Olympics supporters owe huge thanks to Representatives Kilmer and Smith for shepherding this bill through the House.
OPA has advocated for Wild Olympics for more than a decade. The bill was reintroduced into the House by Representative Kilmer and into the Senate by Senator Patty Murray several times. This is the first time it passed.
The landmark Wild Olympics legislation would permanently protect the Olympic Peninsula’s ancient forests, free-flowing rivers and salmon streams for future generations. It would designate more than 126,500 acres of Olympic National Forest roadless lands as Wilderness, including some of the most popular hiking areas in the eastern and southern Olympics.
It would also protect 19 rivers and their major tributaries as Wild and Scenic Rivers, a total of 464 river miles. When enacted, this would be the first new wilderness on Olympic National Forest in more than three decades and the first-ever protected Wild and Scenic Rivers on the Olympic Peninsula.
For more information on the Wild Olympics campaign, visit www.wildolympics.org. The Campaign has released a stunning video featuring some of their most prominent local champions. Click the image below to view it.
Wild Olympics Bill Rides Wave of Broad Local Support
Out of Key House Committee
The Wild Olympics Coalition cheered the passage of the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (H.R. 2642) out of the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee on December 5. The legislation was introduced by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA-06) in May, and would permanently protect more than 126,500 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 Campaign released a stunning new video featuring some of their most prominent local champions to celebrate the milestone. Click the image in the article above to view the video.
OPA and a broad coalition of conservation groups worked with Senator Murray and Representative Kilmer for years to gather extensive community input on the Olympic Peninsula to craft the carefully balanced legislation. It would permanently protect 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 without closing roads or affecting trailhead access.
The committee vote comes on a wave of support from over 100 new endorsements from local Olympic Peninsula Tribes, elected officials, sportsmen groups, and businesses, bringing the total number of endorsing groups to more than 800.
The legislation now awaits a vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and a hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
For more information, visit the Wild Olympics website.
Wild Olympics Bill Has U.S. House Hearing
On July 10, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands conducted a hearing on the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (H.R. 2642). The legislation was introduced by Senator Patty Murray and Representative Derek Kilmer in May, and would permanently protect more than 126,500 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.
Designed through extensive community input to protect ancient forests and clean water and enhance outdoor recreation, the legislation would designate the first new wilderness on Olympic National Forest in nearly three decades and the first-ever protected Wild and Scenic rivers on the Peninsula.
It would permanently protect 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.
Representative Kilmer testified at the hearing in support of the legislation. “I’m proud the House is finally working to advance this practical, balanced strategy that will protect the wildest and most pristine places on the Peninsula while ensuring we can keep and grow jobs in our natural resource industries and other sectors,” he said.
Senator Patty Murray said, “I’m proud to champion this bill to help preserve the Olympic Peninsula’s pristine areas, and I’m excited to continue working with Representative Kilmer, as well as local tribal, business, and community leaders, to keep up the momentum to pass this bill in Congress and ensure the preservation of Washington state’s prized rivers, forests, and wild spaces for generations to come.”
The hearing comes on a wave of new support from more than 100 new endorsements from local Olympic Peninsula Tribes, elected officials and businesses. These additions bring the total number of local Olympic Peninsula businesses, CEOs, elected officials, farms, faith leaders, sportsmen, and conservation and outdoor recreation groups to more than 800 endorsers, including the Quinault, Quileute, Elwha and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribes, and the mayors of Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Hoquiam, Aberdeen, Ocean Shores and Elma, among many others. More than 12,000 local residents have signed petitions in support.
Wild Olympics Bill Gets U.S. Senate Hearing
The Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act cleared a major hurdle in April 2016 when the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee heard testimony on the bill for the first time.
The Wild Olympics bill was reintroduced by Senator Murray and Representative Derek Kilmer last spring. It will protect permanently more than 126,500 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. If enacted, the legislation would designate the first new wilderness in Olympic National Forest in three decades and the first-ever protected Wild and Scenic rivers on the Olympic Peninsula.
“This step is great news for anyone who enjoys our prized wild spaces, and wants to protect them for generations to come. I am going to keep pushing to move this bill forward,” said Senator Patty Murray.
Both the Forest Service, in oral testimony, and the Park Service, in written testimony, supported the bill. The Park Service requested one important addition, that Wild and Scenic River protection be extended downstream on the Elwha River to include the reach formerly inundated beneath the Glines Canyon Dam and the Lake Mills reservoir and out the free-flowing river to the park boundary.
OPA has been advocating Forest Service Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River protections in the Olympics since 1974. We succeeded in saving some (but not all) outstanding Forest Service wilderness areas in 1984. However, a Wild and Scenic study bill was defeated by timber interests then. This is the first time protection for the Peninsula’s outstanding wild rivers is addressed in pending legislation.
In our letter to the Senate committee, the Wild Olympics Campaign wrote, “These free-flowing rivers and streams are also vital to the long-term health and recovery of Hood Canal and Puget Sound … By granting these natural treasures the permanent protection they lack today, this legislation makes a down payment on the economic future of generations to come.”
Shortly before the hearing, the Wild Olympics Campaign announced more than 100 new endorsements by local Olympic Peninsula business and elected officials. The new additions bring the total number of local businesses, elected officials, faith leaders and sportsmen, and conservation and outdoor recreation groups to more than 550 endorsers.
If you haven’t already, please sign the Wild Olympics petition now .
To see the Wild Olympics Campaign letter in support of the bill, click here. To view the list of Wild Olympics endorsements, click here. For updates and future developments regarding Wild Olympics, check the Wild Olympics website and our OPA website here.
New Wilderness for Olympic National Forest
by Tim McNulty
In 1984, Congress passed the landmark Washington Wilderness Act. OPA and its supporters spearheaded a successful multi-year campaign that resulted in five new wilderness areas in Olympic National Forest. The Buckhorn, Brothers, Mount Skokomish, Wonder Mountain, and Colonel Bob Wilderness Areas protected some 89,000 of the most spectacular high country, upper watersheds, and scenic hiking destinations in the Olympic National Forest.
Today, hikers take in sweeping views from Marmot Pass, explore the wild Duckabush Valley, camp beside Mildred Lakes, or pause beneath the breathtaking forests of Colonel Bob, knowing these areas are forever protected from logging, road building, or the invasion of dirt bikes and quads.
Back in 1984, clearcutting of old-growth forests and roadbuilding into steep, roadless country were at their peak in Olympic National Forest. Protection of low-elevation river valleys—and restoration of previously logged lands—were pitted against saving our most popular hiking areas. We gained important victories in the Gray Wolf and Duckabush valleys, but many vital areas were sacrificed. This was painfully true in the heavily logged western Olympics. No wilderness areas were designated between the Buckhorn Wilderness in the Dungeness watershed and Colonel Bob in the Quinault.
Now, more than a quarter-century later, it’s time to correct that oversight. OPA in partnership with the Wild Olympics Campaign is working to preserve those areas in Olympic National Forest that remain to be protected and restore key habitat lands that have suffered earlier abuse.
Critical middle- and low-elevation forests that are important habitats for a suite of wildlife from redback voles to Roosevelt elk are recommended for wilderness. So are key streams and tributaries that provide important habitats for salmon and other aquatic species.
Heavily used recreation areas and popular trails are included, as are several decommissioned roads—or roads scheduled for removal—and reforested cuts. Our vision is to enhance existing protected wilderness as well as complement ongoing salmon restoration efforts by preserving key forests and watersheds that will protect rivers, streams, salmon and wildlife.
As increasing resource and recreation demands are placed on Olympic National Forest, new wilderness areas will protect what is most important.
A complete map of the Wild Olympics Campaign proposal showing wilderness, park additions, and wild and scenic river recommendations is available on the campaign’s website.
In Olympic National Forest, proposed wilderness areas are included in the Elwha, Dungeness, Gray Wolf, Big Quilcene, Dosewallips, Duckabush, Hamma Hamma, Skokomish, Humptulips, Quinault, Queets, and Quillayute watersheds. As of this writing, some 136,000 acres of Olympic National Forest are proposed for wilderness. On these two pages are some of the highlights.
With these additions, the future ecological health and integrity of Olympic Park, Forest, and the Olympic ecosystem will be a huge step closer to reality. Please lend your support to the Wild Olympics effort. Contact your elected officials today.
What You Can Do:
Contact your congressional Representatives and Senators and urge them to support:
- Additional Wilderness Areas in Olympic National Forest
- Wild and Scenic River designations for Olympic rivers
Click here and sign the Wild Olympics petition.
To learn more about the Wild Olympics Campaign, visit www.wildolympics.org.
Olympic National Forest Wilderness Additions
1 Elwha Foothills
The Mount Baldy and Madison Creek areas protect habitat for elk, blacktail deer and fisher. Both areas increase protections for the largest salmon restoration project in the U.S.
2 Dungeness Rainshadow
The popular Deer Ridge area will complete wilderness protection for the middle Gray Wolf watershed, including the lower Deer Ridge trail and recent Slab Camp road restoration. The Lower Gray Wolf includes the first two miles of the ever-popular trail. Three O’Clock Ridge and Upper Dungeness protect the middle Dungeness slopes and stunning old-growth forest along the upper Dungeness trail leading to the Buckhorn Wilderness.
3 Mount Townsend North
The northern ridges and trails of popular Mount Townsend are long overdue for wilderness protection. Dirty Face Ridge, Sleepy Hollow, Little Quilcene, and Silver Lake way trails offer rugged day hiking, summer wildflowers, and sweeping views—all within easy access from Puget Sound.
4 East Slope and Hood Canal
Hamilton Mountain and North Dosewallips Ridge are prominent features from Puget Sound. Jupiter Ridge offers a splendid ridgetop hike to Mount Jupiter in the Brothers Wilderness. The alpine summits of Mounts Ellinor and Washington anchor the wall of canal-front peaks. Lena Lake, tucked beneath rugged peaks, remains the most popular backpack destination in the Olympic Forest.
5 Skokomish Wilderness
Lightning Peak looms over Lake Cushman. Beyond it the South Fork Skokomish River harbors elk, salmon, and a scenic, year-round trail through one of the most splendid, but unprotected old-growth forests in the Olympics.
6 Quinault Rain Forest
The Quinault valley is a last lowland stronghold for elk, salmon, and the quiet grandeur of the lowland Olympic rain forest. South Quinault Ridge forms the backdrop to Lake Quinault, and popular nature trails take visitors of all ages through groves magnificent trees. Moonlight Domeprotects a more remote, bit equally stunning forest. And Sams River, once roaded and logged, is now a recovering forest and important tributary to ONP’s Queets River.
7 Quillayute Watershed
No wilderness has been designated in the heavily logged Northwest corner of Olympic National Forest, but salmon still depend upon the many streams of the vast Quillayute watershed. Elk Reade protects the lower Bogachiel River just west of Olympic Park; Rugged Ridge connects the park to the remote Sitkum River to the north, and Alkee Creek is an important tributary to the salmon-rich Sol Duc River.
Background
This American Land PBS Program Spotlights Wild Olympics Campaign
Wild Olympics Bill Re-introduced