Washington Wants More Wilderness for Washington
By Michael Frank, Adventure Journal on December 5th, 2011
The Olympic Peninsula could get 130,000 more acres of wilderness under a proposal by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. The two are taking their idea to locals in Washington before crafting a bill to introduce in Congress. They want to tighten restrictions on a patchwork of land surrounding Olympic National Park, preventing logging and closing some Forest Service roads. There are five parcels totally 20,000 acres that include private land, which would be managed by the fed less restrictive than full wilderness. “If the federal government says it’s good for me, I’m skeptical,” said one loke.
