Alpine Lakes bill almost there: North Bend wild-area protection efforts pass U.S. House, on to Senate

The U.S. Senate will vote this week on a bill to, among other things, protect 22,000 acres of forest land on the Snoqualmie Middle Fork, and 40 miles of rivers. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which included these protections, named the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Addition, the Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers Protection Act, and the Illabot Creek Wild and Scenic River Act.

December 9, 2014 4:30 pm

The U.S. Senate will vote this week on a bill to, among other things, protect 22,000 acres of forest land on the Snoqualmie Middle Fork, and 40 miles of rivers. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which included these protections, named the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Addition, the Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers Protection Act, and the Illabot Creek Wild and Scenic River Act.

“We are elated to see the Alpine Lakes and Illabot proposals for new Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River protections pass the full House,” said Tom Uniack, Conservation Director for Washington Wild.

He was especially pleased with the timing, in the 50th anniversary year of the Wilderness Act.

However, Uniack noted that time was running out.

“We’re kind of in overtime here. This is a lame duck session,” he told the Record in a phone call Thursday, Dec. 5.

The Alpine Lakes bill, sponsored this session by District 8 Congressman Dave Reichert and District 1 Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, has been under Congressional debate since 2007, when Reichert first introduced it. The river protections were brought into discussion the following session, and DelBene introduced the Illabot Creek act in this session.

In each previous session, the bills have failed, and although they are reintroduced at the next session, all of the progress made on them in past debates and votes is lost.

If the Senate supports the Alpine Lakes and river protection bills this week, the designated forest lands will be protected from mining, road construction and all motorized transportion and the affected rivers will be protected from dam construction.

One critical aspect of the forest land, Uniack, said, is its lower elevation. Most of the U.S. Forest Service land already protected as wilderness is above 3,000 feet, but only about half of the Alpine Lakes property is that high.

“When you get these low-elevation areas, everybody’s playing there, or working there,” Uniack said, making protections even more important for the future, because “with wilderness, if you don’t do something, change will come.”

• Learn more about the Alpine Lakes bill at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1769.