Group proposes wilderness areas

SPOKANE A new proposal for land management in the Colville National Forest includes expanding wilderness areas, including the Salmo-Priest Wilderness in the far northeast corner of Pend Oreille County and land north of Metaline Falls.

Conservation Northwest, in partnership with timber industry leaders, recreationists and ranchers announced the Columbia Highlands Initiative Wednesday, July 28. Their goal is to protect habitat for wildlife. At the same time, they hope to address threats to rural economies by sustaining working ranches and jobs in the woods. There are designated forestry areas proposed in the plan where logging activity could increase.

My grandfather started our family milling business and my dad followed in his footsteps, and now I follow in his, said Russ Vaagen, manager of Vaagen Bros. Lumber. Community collaboration has worked for our business, and in these tough economic times, that has helped keep our workforce on the job. Theres an acceptable balance in both sustaining jobs in the woods and protecting some special places.

Lumber companies are willing to support wilderness areas, and in exchange they hope to harvest around 80 million board feet of lumber each year.

The group would like to see legislation introduced in Washington, D.C., this fall or coming spring. Designating any new wilderness areas can be done only by an act of Congress.

Wilderness expands

In the proposal are 182,400 acres of proposed wilderness area. The current Salmo-Priest Wilderness in the far northeast corner of Pend OreilleCounty would be expanded. Abercrombie-Hooknose, which straddles Stevens and Pend Oreille counties, would also be included. Other areas are in the Kettle RiverRange. Some off-road vehicle trails in the area would be closed.

Wilderness designation preserves natural backcountry. Timber harvest, mining and in some cases grazing is not allowed. Motorized travel is prohibited, and even bicycles are banned.

The proposed area for Salmo-Priest encompasses HallMountain, and further south, Bunchgrass Meadows, where theres a rare bog with a species of endangered dragonflies. The wild areas provide habitat for one of Washingtons two wolf packs, as well as lynx, bears and other animals.

The proposed wilderness lands surrounding Abercrombie, the states second highest peak, are located between the Columbia River on the west and the Pend OreilleRiver, just south of the Canadian border near MetalineFalls.

Also in the proposal is 145,700 acres of National Conservation Area, which would be managed with an emphasis on the types of primitive recreation allowed in wilderness areas: hiking, hunting and horseback riding to name a few. Any new trail construction would be geared toward these uses, but existing trails that currently support other uses would stay. The 70,500 acres of proposed National Recreation Areas would allow for more developed recreation, including motorized use.

In Sustainable Forestry Areas (417,000 acres), much of the landscape is already heavily roaded, and reducing fire risk near communities will be the focus of forest activities. Forestry Restoration areas (424,300 acres) would be managed to restore old forest conditions and improve wildlife habitat. In both of these designations, existing recreational usage and grazing would continue. The Forest Service could designate these two types of forestry areas without an act of Congress.

Forest plan in the works

ColvilleForest staff didnt have a part in developing this initiative, but the initiative is consistent with the groups prior recommendations to the Forest Service. ColvilleForest spokesman Franklin Pemberton commended the group for its collaborative work: Those guys have made some huge milestones of getting people to just talk.

The Colville is in the process of revising its forest plan. A draft should be out next spring, and there will be formal comment periods leading up to that. Recommendations for wilderness designation will be part of the plan.

Currently, Salmo-Priest is the only designated wilderness area in the entire ColvilleForest. It covers 41,000 acres 3 percent of the forests landmass.

About two years ago Colville staff did a survey to determine which of its land met the roadless criteria. They held public meetings over a three-year period to gather ideas. It resulted in a draft roadless inventory including 230,00 acres forest-wide. In Pend Oreille roughly 78,000 acres would potentially work under the wilderness definition. That included Abercrombie-Hooknose, the Salmo-Priest Wilderness, SouthForkMountain and Grassy Top, HallMountain, HarveyCreek and Lost Creek.

In early 2008, the state of Idaho passed a plan for managing its 9.3 million acres of roadless area. It divides the parcels into different categories that restrict road building, timber harvests and mining activity in varying degrees.

Wilderness areas ensure that those of us who prefer putting in the effort for a traditional hunt on foot or horseback will still have places like the Kettle Crest or Salmo-Priest area to share with our children and grandchildren even with ever expanding development pressures, said Joe Mirasole, a resident of Elk and chairman of the Washington chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.