Things to note for wilderness in northeast Washington

Tips

1)    These roadless forests are important to me and my family.

Refer to your own personal experiences and intimate knowledge on the Colville National Forest in your letter. The Forest Service is particularly interested in comments you might have about individual roadless areas by name: how are they unique and how might they contribute to the country's wilderness preservation system? If you haven't yet had time to visit these wild forests, you might want to reference nearby areas in northeastern Washington or even completely different wilderness experiences.

2)    Recommended wilderness is important to a balanced forest plan.

During the Forest Service’s collaborative “Summit” workshop, held from March 2006 to January 2007, eighty individuals from across the region representing diverse groups and interests endorsed the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition’s proposal for active management of the Responsible Management Area, where timber harvest would be focused, and areas where restoration activities would take place. Summit participants also agreed to maintain “wilderness characteristics” of inventoried roadless areas. Recommending some of the Colville’s 19 roadless areas for future wilderness designation would help balance the forest plan.

3)    Wilderness on the Colville National Forest is scarce—The Salmo Priest Wilderness near Metaline Falls is the only wilderness area in all of northeast Washington.

Less than 3% of the 1.1 million acre Colville National Forest is designated Wilderness, representing less than 1% of all Wilderness in the state. There are, however, 19 inventoried roadless areas that provide opportunities for a wilderness experience and meet criteria under the Wilderness Act for possible future designation, and all of these areas should be recommended for wilderness.

4)    Wilderness ensures at least some of our public lands that don’t have roads will stay the way they have always been.  Everything changes—we can’t expect these lands to stay the same forever without protection.

As our region’s population increases and former farm and timber lands become more developed, our remaining wild lands become even more valuable as remnants of our once vast wilderness heritage. Wilderness is a place where we can connect with the past and where we can be reminded of how the American frontier helped to shape our values of freedom, self-reliance, and perseverance. These undeveloped, untamed lands provide an opportunity for us to experience the freedom, challenge, and solitude on foot or horseback that helped shape our forefathers and our uniquely American culture. More than 100 years ago, much of northeast Washington was wilderness. Today, our remaining roadless areas are all the wilderness we have left.

5)    The Forest Service's “roadless area” designation has not been enough to protect these lands from development.

Years of road building, logging, and other development have chipped away at the forest until all we have left of a once vast wilderness are these few roadless areas. Just because an area is a designated “Roadless Area” does not mean it will be protected and won’t be developed in the future. For example, according to the Colville’s Harvey Creek Evaluation, "The 2006 inventory removed approximately 7,327 acres from previous inventory due to nonconforming uses such as road construction [and] logging." Likewise, the Twin Sisters Roadless Area was twice its current size in 1979. Only Congressionally designated Wilderness offers the security we need for these rare, ecologically significant landscapes.

6)    Wilderness provides habitat security for wildlife.

Many animals, such as grizzly bears, elk, mule deer, caribou, lynx, wolverine, wolves, and other wildlife rely on wilderness and other undeveloped lands as escapement habitat where they can find refuge from increasing development and human pressures. These areas also often provide safe passage for wildlife across large landscapes, which is critical for maintaining the genetic health and survival of many species. Large natural burned areas and meadows and wetlands free of noxious weeds also provide important feeding areas for many types of wildlife. Millions of birds also use Wilderness as nesting and wintering grounds and resting places when migrating. Hunters also find increasingly rare opportunities to get away from roads and traffic to pursue game in more traditional ways in the backcountry.

7)    Wilderness will not negatively impact our region’s timber economy.

The few remaining roadless areas under consideration for recommended wilderness on the Colville are mostly remote and relatively inaccessible because of the steep, rugged geography.  The road infrastructure that would be needed to harvest these lands would not be cost effective and would result in a negative return on investment for the timber industry and tax payers who would finance new road construction.

8)    Wilderness helps protect native plant communities.

Wilderness designation ensures that no new roads will be built into areas that are often largely free of non-native noxious weeds, which drive out many native plants, decrease food sources for wildlife, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars to control. Many of the areas proposed for wilderness on the Colville National Forest have rare plants that could be lost without permanent protection.

9)    Wilderness helps maintain secure flows of clean water for drinking, irrigation, and ranching.

Many of our region’s farms, ranches, and towns rely on wilderness as their source of water. The town of Orient get’s their water from the Deer Creek roadless areas. Maintaining the integrity of these lands through protections like wilderness is a cost-effective way to secure our fresh water supplies for the future.