At long last: Finally passed and signed into law, Wild Sky becomes our state's first new protected wilderness since 1984 and the Washington Wilderness Act.

Kudos to the many people who protected Wild Sky for all of us, including the bill's champions, Rep. Rick Larsen and Sen. Patty Murray. Yet what honestly should have been a no-brainer for good wilderness protection became something short of brain surgery, taking years longer than needed because of waylaying by a mulish Richard Pombo and his ties to an obstinate ORV lobby. Mr. Pombo certainly won’t be remembered for any kind of natural legacy in Washington!

The Wild Sky is gorgeous lands, steep peaks and deep forested valleys in the greater Skykomish River watershed in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. One of the jewels, Baring Peak as seen from Highway 2, simply takes the breath away, impossibly cantilevered upward, holding up the sky. Included are rare lowland old growth, wetlands, and meadows, all precious for salmon and trout and wildlife from butterflies to bears.

Senator Murray had this to say on her site,

This new wilderness is a gift to young families, lifelong outdoor enthusiasts and everyone in between. We are blessed to live so close to such majestic beauty and thanks to this new designation it will be protected for generations to come.

We are thrilled for the protection of this beautiful and needed area; but let's face it, wilderness on the westside of Washington gets all the credit. On the eastside of the state, the 1984 Washington Wilderness Act rejected most of the lands that local citizens worked passionately in the '70s to protect as wilderness. The result is that today, only 3% of Washington’s protected wilderness areas are situated east of the Cascades and only 1%—the Salmo-Priest—in heavily forested northeastern Washington.

There's wilderness still waiting–and in much the same shape as when Lewis and Clarke first visited these lands–in the little-known and bounteous wild forests of the Colville National Forest and Columbia Highlands. These lands richly deserve wilderness consideration and designation; while so many wilderness areas protect mostly high, craggy peaks and the rock and ice of mountain tops, the Highlands are prime low-elevation habitat. The Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition has made great progress on a collaborative plan that protects wilderness for wildlife and future generations and establishes responsible forestry and sustainable flows of timber to local communities. This community-driven collaboration is a far cry from the long battle over Wild Sky, and we're confident it will succeed.

Not only did the original Wilderness Act of 1964 establish a National Wilderness Preservation System, it also put in place a process for expanding the system. That process comes down to the American people and the legislative process. And the Act doesn't say "maybe, should we?" It says, "we must" protect wilderness “for the permanent good of the whole people...."

Hence, Wild Sky. Hence, our next protected wilderness in the Columbia Highlands.