Post by: bigtex on August 01, 2014, 10:20:33 AM
The bill now heads to full House for a vote. A similar bill passed in 2013 in the US Senate. If this bill were to pass both the House and Senate it would be just the second wilderness expansion bill to pass in the current Congress. Many believe the make-up of the Hastings led NRC have led to a stoppage/blocking of wilderness expansion bills.
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Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area Expansion Bill Clears Key Committee In Congress
A bill that would expand the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area east of Seattle is one step closer to becoming law. For the first time in nearly four years, the proposal has moved forward in the U.S. House.
The legislation, called the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Additions and Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers Protection Act (H.R. 361), has now passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee. Aside from a brief hearing last year, it had languished there since its introduction in the House in January 2013.
The bill aims to add 22,000 acres of what is now National Forest land to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area, north of Interstate 90. The wilderness area spans nearly 400,000 acres located roughly between Stevens Pass to the north and Snoqualmie Pass and I-90 to the south.
Tom Uniack, with the conservation group Washington Wild, says the legislation simply moves the wilderness boundary down the hill to add protections to lower elevations.
“These are where the old-growth trees and the mature trees are, it’s also where fish habitat and spawning streams are. And it’s where we find multi-season accessible recreation opportunities for families,” Uniack said.
The legislation also includes designation of two wild and scenic river corridors in the area: along a 27-mile segment of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie and the 10-mile Pratt River. The bill would keep them free-flowing and require active management to protect their value.
Wilderness is the toughest form of protection for public lands. If the new designation is approved, camping and hiking would be still be allowed in the national forest areas, but logging, new mining claims and use of motorized equipment would not be allowed. Even mechanized equipment, including mountain bikes, would be prohibited.
But Uniak says Washington’s congressional delegation worked for five years, reaching out to potentially affected groups before the bill’s introduction and addressing their concerns. For example, he says the boundaries steer clear of an important mountain biking trail bordering on the wilderness and doesn’t touch operations of the nearby Alpenthal ski area. They also worked with the U.S. Department of Transportation to make sure they would be able to conduct avalanche control blasting to maintain I-90.
The Alpine Lakes expansion idea was first proposed in 2007 by Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., who has continued to push it forward. The latest bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Suzan Delbene, D-Wash. Legislation identical to their proposal passed the full Senate after introduction there by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
But the bill coming out of the House Committee on Wednesday included amendments that conservation groups called “unnecessary and problematic,” including a boundary adjustment that would subtract about a thousand acres from the new protections.
They also say a move to get rid of a quarter-mile buffer around the river areas could be a deal breaker, because it would significantly weaken the designation.
The amendments are designed to provide assurances for private property owners near the rivers.
Those differences may determine whether the Alpine Lakes Wilderness expansion soon becomes law. No action is expected before Congress completes its August recess.
http://www.kplu.org/post/alpine-lakes-wilderness-area-expansion-bill-clears-key-committee-congress (http://www.kplu.org/post/alpine-lakes-wilderness-area-expansion-bill-clears-key-committee-congress)
Post by: BsB on August 01, 2014, 11:08:09 AM
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Post by: bigtex on August 01, 2014, 11:37:49 AM
I can see it now..... With the Forest service paving almost 10miles of road out the middle fork, everyone will be hunting high buck next year in the Alpine. Yay. :bash:
Actually the Forest Service isn't the one paving the road. The Middle Fork area is a mixture of land ownership. The front end is DNR and King County lands, and the last few miles are Forest Service.
Post by: BsB on August 01, 2014, 11:50:56 AM
I knew about the DNR land, Mail Box peak, up to granite lake, out towards mount bessemer, and the old CCC road. Didn't realize there was still some county land out there.I can see it now..... With the Forest service paving almost 10miles of road out the middle fork, everyone will be hunting high buck next year in the Alpine. Yay. :bash:
Actually the Forest Service isn't the one paving the road. The Middle Fork area is a mixture of land ownership. The front end is DNR and King County lands, and the last few miles are Forest Service.
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Post by: bigtex on August 01, 2014, 11:54:59 AM
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/amp_rec_snoqualmie_rec_plan_vicinity_map.pdf (http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/amp_rec_snoqualmie_rec_plan_vicinity_map.pdf)I knew about the DNR land, Mail Box peak, up to granite lake, out towards mount bessemer, and the old CCC road. Didn't realize there was still some county land out there.I can see it now..... With the Forest service paving almost 10miles of road out the middle fork, everyone will be hunting high buck next year in the Alpine. Yay. :bash:
Actually the Forest Service isn't the one paving the road. The Middle Fork area is a mixture of land ownership. The front end is DNR and King County lands, and the last few miles are Forest Service.
All of the orange colored lands are King County. Which means its off limits to hunting.
Post by: BsB on August 01, 2014, 12:07:54 PM
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/amp_rec_snoqualmie_rec_plan_vicinity_map.pdf (http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/amp_rec_snoqualmie_rec_plan_vicinity_map.pdf)good to know! Thanks! :tup:
All of the orange colored lands are King County. Which means its off limits to hunting.
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Post by: bigtex on August 09, 2014, 09:59:08 PM
Post by: HHPro on August 09, 2014, 10:06:44 PM
Post by: bobcat on August 09, 2014, 10:07:52 PM
Post by: bigtex on August 09, 2014, 10:10:34 PM
Bigtex do you have a map showing the current boundaries along with the proposed expansion?(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wta.org%2Fsignpost%2Fthe-signpost%2Fresolveuid%2F149efc43438b4e0db3899e352daf8361%2F%40%40images%2Fimage%2Ffull-width&hash=d99c983c90389d1a77667e12f485c67bfe480ff9)
Dark green = Current wilderness
Purple= Proposed wilderness
Light green= USFS non wilderness
Post by: bigtex on August 09, 2014, 10:12:12 PM
At least they're not turning it into a National Park where hunting wouldn't be allowed. Seems to me that it's not really changing anything, is it? Isn't this area already wilderness anyway, even if not "official"?Correct. However I know there are many on here who aren't friendly with a wilderness designation....
Post by: HHPro on August 09, 2014, 10:15:53 PM
Post by: bigtex on December 04, 2014, 09:06:56 AM
This bill has been included in the Defense Authorization bill which includes several other land management bills. It sounds like there is pretty wide support for the Defense Authorization bill. We should know the outcome by next week.
Post by: bigtex on December 04, 2014, 12:31:53 PM
Post by: CarbonHunter on December 10, 2014, 03:22:39 PM
Post by: timberfaller on December 10, 2014, 09:44:45 PM
YEP :tup:
"Wilderness" is just a political buzz word to make the greenies happy! and the inhabitants of the concrete jungles believing it still exists :chuckle:
Oh ya and it keeps those evil loggers out and ANY proper management practices at bay :o
Post by: npaull on December 10, 2014, 10:13:15 PM
Loss of habitat is THE existential threat to hunting. Everything else is a way distant second. If we can keep quality habitat, we can expect to have hunting far into the future.
The concept of wilderness - that Americans in the past were wise enough to see a need for its creation - is one of our greatest successes. Every wilderness area is a reason to celebrate for hunters, pure and simple.
This is great.
I know - some logging is good for deer. But with the logging companies increasingly charging for access and spraying herbicide on their clear cuts, I'm getting less and less enthused about giving more land to them, particularly when the strip mall dollars start to look better than the timber revenues.
Post by: Little Dave on December 12, 2014, 01:29:07 AM
The local ranger district has a policy of suppressing all fires. While fire is a natural feature of a healthy forest, the political consequence of hikers trapped in a fire is something that creeps them out... so they are willing to let the forest go to a lifeless monoculture old growth.
What will probably happen is sometime over the next twenty years we will have a lot of rain in the spring followed by a hot summer. Then in that September a huge wildfire will light the place up and burn a huge swath of land like the Tillamook Burn of 1933 in the wet coastal range of Oregon, that was about 300,000 acres a little more than the Carlton Complex burn this year.
Once burned, the proposed wilderness area may develop excellent habitat with a variety of different forest stages... so this could be a good thing if the country lasts that long.
Post by: JimmyHoffa on December 13, 2014, 10:33:37 AM
Post by: bigtex on December 13, 2014, 11:50:57 AM
It's just waiting on the president for a signature now.:yeah:
Post by: csaaphill on December 13, 2014, 03:24:04 PM
Would've thought this one would result in some negative posts :dunno::yeah:
loner i guess! :chuckle:
Post by: csaaphill on December 13, 2014, 03:28:03 PM
Post by: logger on December 17, 2014, 07:08:19 PM
Post by: Special T on December 17, 2014, 07:17:49 PM
At least they're not turning it into a National Park where hunting wouldn't be allowed. Seems to me that it's not really changing anything, is it? Isn't this area already wilderness anyway, even if not "official"?Correct. However I know there are many on here who aren't friendly with a wilderness designation....
I think a certain am mount of apathy has set in for many of us. I know it has for me. Much of the USFS area that i have hunted for elk needs at least SOME logging and hasn't had any is many years. perhaps I should pray for a fire if i really want to go back. Greenies are winning the war, at least here in WA, and since this land is in King County I KNOW its a lost cause to try and be a lone/small voice for reason. USFS does not log as much as it could/should and king county HATES cutting so there is ZERO chance of some cutting. IMO it really doesn't matter if its Wilderness or not because it was defacto wilderness anyway. :twocents:
Post by: bigtex on December 17, 2014, 10:06:22 PM
There's actually been some cutting on USFS land in King County in the past couple years. I think we just don't see the large cuts that we used to see on USFS lands.I think a certain am mount of apathy has set in for many of us. I know it has for me. Much of the USFS area that i have hunted for elk needs at least SOME logging and hasn't had any is many years. perhaps I should pray for a fire if i really want to go back. Greenies are winning the war, at least here in WA, and since this land is in King County I KNOW its a lost cause to try and be a lone/small voice for reason. USFS does not log as much as it could/should and king county HATES cutting so there is ZERO chance of some cutting. IMO it really doesn't matter if its Wilderness or not because it was defacto wilderness anyway. :twocents:At least they're not turning it into a National Park where hunting wouldn't be allowed. Seems to me that it's not really changing anything, is it? Isn't this area already wilderness anyway, even if not "official"?Correct. However I know there are many on here who aren't friendly with a wilderness designation....
Post by: Special T on December 18, 2014, 07:07:01 AM
Post by: logger on December 18, 2014, 07:24:34 AM
Post by: Special T on December 19, 2014, 06:46:17 AM
Post by: logger on December 19, 2014, 04:16:08 PM