The Colville National Forest
Roadless areas on the Colville National Forest qualify to be part of America's Wilderness Preservation System. Other, large parts of the forest are suited to restoration forestry and responsible forest management.
Lands needing protection
Watch a slideshow, take a hike, or read about the roadless areas
Wilderness protection of qualifying lands is an important part of an ongoing collaborative process creating a practical management plan for the Colville National Forest. These rich roadless forests are home to some of the state’s best wilderness trails. Lands in the Kettle River Range, Sullivan Lake area, and Okanogan Highlands provide critical habitat for rare wildlife including grizzly bears, bighorn sheep, wolves, redband trout, lynx, wolverine, and the only remaining mountain caribou in the lower 48 states.
Today, just 3% of the 1.1 million-acre Colville National Forest is protected wilderness, the lowest percentage of any national forest in the Pacific Northwest. Although the Salmo-Priest Wilderness was established in 1984, several other pristine, primitive roadless areas have been left without protection in previous roadless area review and evaluations (RARE) processes.
In 2002, the Colville National Forest began its revision of its forest plan. One of the first required steps was another review of actual roadless lands on the ground to update the roadless area inventory. In their review, the agency identified 21 inventoried roadless areas (IRAs). Some of these roadless areas had been identified in previous RARE processes; some, such as Cougar Mountain, were identified by painstaking map and field work by Conservation Northwest and later verified by Forest Service field staff.
Aware that Forest Service would soon begin a process for revising the Colville National Forest plan, the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition, a diverse assemblage of interests—including conservationists (Conservation Northwest and The Lands Council) timber mill owners, forestry professionals, and community leaders—crafted its own draft management plan that would provide a balance across the forest and meet the needs of wildlife and local communities. This plan recommended 17 of the 21 roadless areas with at least some of their acreage on the Colville be designated as wilderness.
Support for northeast Washington wilderness
In 2008, for the first time ever and as part of its forest plan revision, the Colville National Forest asked the public which of 21 inventoried roadless areas--encompassing more than 230,000 acres--they believed the agency should recommend to Congress for wilderness designation.
To let the Forest Service know what citizens think, supporters rallied at public hearings throughout northeastern Washington in Spokane, Republic, Colville, and Cusick. More than 1,500 people from around the state sent letters and comments supporting protection of all roadless areas that merit wilderness recommendation. In summer 2009, the Colville National Forest revealed a sneak preview of its forthcoming recommendations, eliciting a mixture of disappointment and hope for a much-improved final wilderness recommendation from conservationists; although the agency had only four of the 21 possible IRAs favored as wilderness, it declared that the process was just a beginning and that “all options are still on the table”.
View the Colville National Forest's evaluations of the wilderness characteristics of these areas.
Click the image below for a more realistic analysis of the wilderness quality of these amazing areas. Compiled by the Washington Wilderness Coalition
Next steps
Fortunately, the balanced approach to management of the Colville National Forest favored by the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition has gained bipartisan attention in Congress, which is the final arbiter of wilderness designation. And although the Forest Service’s recommendations carry weight, Congress can—and often does—supersede the agency’s recommendations.
So what can you do? We have a unique opportunity to speak directly to our congresspeople about the need for wilderness—not just a handful of separate areas, but ALL 17 roadless areas recommended by the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition. Write a letter to Senator Cantwell and Representative McMorris Rodgers urging them to recommend wilderness status for these wild areas.
These letters make a real difference in which and how many of these undeveloped wild lands ultimately receive an agency recommendation for a wilderness designation. Wide community support sets the stage for real wilderness protection for these qualifying lands.
Also consider “adopting” one of these roadless areas by committing to visit the area and documenting your experience to help raise its visability for protection—it is an easy, fun and effective means of ensuring these roadless areas finally receive the permanent protection ensured by wilderness designation.
