ABERDEEN, Wash. (AP) — The Wild Olympics proposal has been modified to gain more support for preserving wilderness on the Olympic Peninsula.
Sen. Patty Murray and Congressman Norm Dicks announced Thursday that planners are dropping the plan to add about 30 square miles of private forest land to Olympic National Park if the owners agreed to sell. Some people have opposed the Wild Olympics plan because it could restrict logging and recreation.
KBKW reports a district representative for Dicks announced the change at a meeting of Grays Harbor Democrats.
The Dicks-Murray version of the proposal would designate about 200 square miles of Forest Service land as wilderness where no logging would be allowed. The plan also would designate 23 river systems as wild and scenic within the Olympic National Forest and the national park.
