Please contact your congressional representatives and let them know you support these important bills.

Wild Sky Wilderness Bill
The Wild Sky Wilderness Bill was re-introduced in February by Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen. After five years of frustration, Murray and Larsen are confident that the new Democratic majorities in Congress will finally pass this bi-partisan bill.

The bill, which would protect 106,577 acres in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest northeast of Seattle, has already passed the Senate three times, all by wide margins, only to see the effort die in the House. The major obstacle in the House has been former Rep. Richard Pombo of California, who lost in November elections. Pombo chaired the House Resources Committee, which allowed him to hold up the bill in committee.

The last wilderness legislation was passed in 1984 in Washington and almost all of the designated wilderness in the state is in remote, high-elevation areas. With some 30 percent of its 106,000 acres at lower elevations in eastern Snohomish County, Wild Sky will change that pattern, preserving important lowland forests and protecting salmon-bearing streams.

In 2005, Broads held a Broadwalk in Washington in support of the Wild Sky Bill. We continue to support this bill and are optimistic for its future.

New California Wilderness Bills
Two new pieces of wilderness legislation have been recently introduced. The first is Rep. Mary Bono’s new bill, the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act. The bill would designate about 125,000 acres of Riverside County as wilderness in order to limit future development in the fast-growing area east of Los Angeles. 78,000 acres in the Joshua Tree National Park would be set aside as wilderness, as well as additional lands in the Cleveland and San Bernardino national forests and BLM lands.

The second wilderness bill introduced in California, was introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer and Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis. The California Wild Heritage Act of 2007 would protect over 2.4 million acres of federal public lands in California.

Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act
The Northern Rocky Mountains encompass the last great expanse of native biodiversity in the contiguous United States. This bioregion— known as America’s Serengeti—is the last stronghold of the grizzly bear, the woodland caribou and the bull trout.

Congress has made great strides in protecting a portion of this great region, designating some areas as wilderness, and others as national parks such as Yellowstone and Glacier. However, more than 20 million acres of these unspoiled lands remain unprotected and increasingly vulnerable to being lost forever through excessive road building, forest clearcutting, mining and other developments that mar the beauty of the landscape.

To reverse this alarming trend, common citizens from all walks of life have developed a plan to protect the Northern Rockies Ecosystem. The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) is sponsored by a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Congress led by Rep. Christopher Shays and Rep. Carolyn Maloney. For more information visit www.wildrockies.org/nrepa/