Wild Sky Wilderness fetes 5th year

“Hundreds of years from now people will walk through there and see what we see today,” Murray told the crowd of environmental activists, local residents and others, gathered outside the Outdoor Adventures Center in Index.

Larsen was elected in 2000, and he and Murray were given a guided hike into the area in 2001.

“I got excited about that effort right away,” Larsen told the crowd Tuesday.

At the time, Larsen’s district encompassed the area proposed for the Wild Sky Wilderness. The districts were changed beginning this year, with Larsen now representing a coastal strip from Lynnwood to Bellingham, including Whidbey, Camano and the San Juan islands.

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene now represents Index, part of the 1st Congressional District that stretches from Bellevue to the Canadian border.

In the wilderness, logging, road building, motorized vehicles and other industrial uses are banned. Hiking, camping, horseback riding, hunting, fishing and rafting are allowed.

Murray and Larsen, both Democrats, encountered opposition from across the aisle in both the Senate and the House.

Locally, some farmers, ranchers, east Snohomish County politicians and recreation advocates argued that restrictions on federal land are unfair to the public that owns them.

The wilderness designation would make it difficult to thin diseased trees or use bulldozers to help fight future forest fires, some opponents argued.

Changes were made to the plan. The area was pared from its originally proposed 130,000 acres. Land was set aside to accommodate snowmobilers and off-road vehicle enthusiasts.

Murray and Larsen found bipartisan support, Congress approved the measure and President George W. Bush signed it into law in May 2008.

The area includes ragged mountain tops, valleys and low-elevation old-growth forest near salmon spawning streams. The wilderness preserves “wildlife corridors,” or areas that animals use to travel from one area to another. A lynx, rare in Western Washington, was seen in the wilderness a few years ago, said Mike Town of Friends of The Wild Sky, Meg’s husband.

Much of the Wild Sky is relatively low in elevation, allowing easy access for recreation while protecting wildlife habitat, proponents have said.

A U.S. Forest Service plan could add more trails to Wild Sky. There are currently 67 miles of documented trails within or adjacent to the wilderness, according to the plan. About 115 miles in possible new trails have been identified, and the plan lists about 60 miles of these as high or moderate priority.