Write a letter for wilderness

Since the 1970s, local citizens who care about the remaining wildlands of northeastern Washington have worked to ensure their permanent protection for future generations. Momentum is building for a community plan that would protect jobs and communities and finally designate long-awaited wildlands in the wild heart of the Columbia Highlands as wilderness. 

The Columbia Highlands Initiative has gained the national attention it deserves, thanks to an historic collaboration between the region’s community, conservation, and timber leaders.

Now you can help to protect these wild, roadless public forests and bring balance to Colville National Forest! Your personal letters to Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers are extremely important. Please take a moment today to write a letter.

You can use our sample letter (PDF) for inspiration. Please ask them to safeguard these important lands and rare wildlife. Let them know:

• Washington has a vital legacy of protecting parks, wilderness, and wildlife for future generations. Yet the rich forests in the Columbia Highlands of northeastern Washington have long been ignored by Congress. Today they hold less than 1% of protected wilderness in the state, although thousands more acres deserve recognition and protection.
• Wilderness is the best assurance for keeping our special places intact for future generations of people and wildlife and protecting them from development, illegal ORV vandalism, and other abuses. The majestic Kettle Crest, the stunning wilderness scenery around the Salmo-Priest, and the rare and endangered wildlife that call these wild areas home are all national treasures that should be protected for everyone in Washington.
• Their leadership can help bring an assured and balanced future for wilderness, ranchlands, and forests on public lands in the Columbia Highlands.
• Additional talking points can be found here.
  

Writing a personal letter referencing your own experiences and love for these special places is especially powerful.  You can use our sample letter for inspiration.

Even if you have already signed a wilderness postcard, attended a wilderness recommendation public meeting, or commented via the Forest Service website, your letter makes a difference now. A positive, heartfelt tone, thanking and encouraging their leadership, will make a difference for protecting these irreplaceable wild places!

Instructions:

Sample letter (PDF)

Be sure to include the date as well as your full name and address on the letter and envelope.

Address one letter each to:

Honorable Maria Cantwell
920 W. Riverside, Suite 697
Spokane , WA 99201

and

Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers
10 North Post Street, Suite 625
Spokane , WA 99201

Please send a copy of your letter to us at our nearest office:

Conservation Northwest
35 W Main, Suite 220
Spokane, WA 99201

or

Conservation Northwest
3600 15th Ave W #101
Seattle, WA 98119

You can also send a personal note via Congressional email portals to Sen. Cantwell and to Rep. McMorris Rodgers, but handwritten letters are the most powerful.

Thank you!