ICYMI: Senator Murray, Rep. Kilmer Celebrate Their Wild Olympics Bill Passing through Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee
Sequim, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined U.S. Forest Service staff, advocates, and local officials to visit and hike the Gray Wolf River and discuss her Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which would set aside the first new wilderness on Olympic National Forest in nearly three decades and the first-ever protected wild and scenic rivers on the Olympic Peninsula. The legislation would permanently protect more than 126,500 acres of Olympic National Forest as wilderness, along with 19 rivers and their major tributaries, a total of 464 river miles, as Wild and Scenic Rivers. The trail Senator Murray hiked today travels through forest that would be protected as wilderness and is within the Gray Wolf Wild and Scenic River corridor.
Senator Murray reintroduced the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act with Representative Derek Kilmer (D, WA-06) last April, and it recently advanced out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources at a markup. Senator Murray first introduced the bill in 2012 with then-Congressman Norm Dicks.
“Visitors and residents alike can all agree that the Olympic Peninsula boasts some of our country’s most breathtaking landscapes and precious ecosystems—and I saw it once again for myself at today’s hike from the Gray Wolf River Trailhead,” said Senator Murray. “It’s so important that we pass my Wild Olympics bill to protect this land and natural resources for generations to come. My bill already passed through Committee, which was a big win, and I am going to keep up the fight to get this bill across the finish line.”
“It is easy to see and understand the ecological value of the Wild Olympics idea, conserving clean and free-flowing rivers, but what is sometimes missed is the economic value that maintaining places like Wild Olympics brings. Protected public lands create economic advantages for the Peninsula. They help us attract and retain talented people to help us staff new companies, and they attract visitors to the special outdoors of the Olympic region,” said State Representative Steve Tharinger, 24th Legislative District (Sequim). “I want to thank REI and Patagonia for engaging local community leaders like myself to help design the map, and for recognizing that encouraging people to get out and enjoy the special places in the Wild Olympics proposal brings economic benefits to the communities I represent. It’s also important to protect and support our timber communities so I appreciate that Sen. Murray’s and Rep. Kilmer’s final compromise proposal was scaled back to ensure it would not impact current timber jobs. Making these designations is not going to impact the timber supply, but it does bolster our other industries.”
“Senator Murray has been an incredible champion for the Wild Olympics since the very beginning, and with her and Rep Kilmer’s steadfast leadership, the bill has made steady progress with each successive congress,” said Jon Owen, Campaign Director & Co-Founder of the Wild Olympics Campaign. “Now that it has passed the key Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee for the first time ever, we are closer than ever before to passing Wild Olympics into law by years’ end. The Wild Olympics Coalition and our 800 local endorsers will be working overtime to help Senator Murray keep the momentum going until it crosses the finish line this congress.”
“Senator Murray & Representative Kilmer’s landmark Wild Olympics bill is visionary in its sweep and passing it would be a historic achievement in the long story of Olympic conservation,” said Tim McNulty, Writer, Conservationist & Co-Founder of the Wild Olympics Campaign.
“The Wild Olympics bill would protect the Olympic Peninsula’s free-flowing rivers and salmon streams for our future,” said Ashley Nichole Lewis, Bad Ash Outdoors (Tahola), Sportsmen For Wild Olympics and Member of the Quinault Indian Nation. “Senator Murray and Representative Kilmer designed their bill with extensive input from local sportsmen to ensure it will protect fishing, boating and hunting access without closing any roads, but it would also permanently protect some of the last healthy upstream salmon and steelhead habitat left on the peninsula. We are watching our guiding friends on the Columbia and Snake rivers witness mass extinction due to warming waters. We don’t want to see that as our future on the Olympic Peninsula. It’s so much easier and cheaper to protect healthy habitat now rather than have to restore degraded habitat later. As a lifelong salmon and steelhead angler, a former Olympic Peninsula fishing guide, and member of the Quinault Indian Nation, salmon are entangled with my very identity, so I am grateful for Senator Murray’s leadership and eager to see the legislation pass this congress.”
“Since our founding in 1938, REI Co-op has been dedicated to championing and connecting people to all the benefits of time outdoors. Central to this mission is ensuring that communities nationwide, including those in our home state of Washington, have ample access to public lands,” said Marc Berejka, REI’s Divisional Vice President for Government and Community Affairs. “Designating wild places for hiking, paddling, and mountain biking creates opportunities not just for today’s outdoor enthusiasts and local communities, but for generations to come. This is why we proudly support Senator Patty Murray’s Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and urge Congress to pass this vital bill without delay.”
The legislation—which was designed through extensive community input to protect ancient forests, clean water, and salmon streams and enhance outdoor recreation—would set aside the first new wilderness on Olympic National Forest in nearly three decades and the first-ever protected wild and scenic rivers on the Olympic Peninsula. The Wild Olympics legislation has made steady progress each successive Congress since its original introduction; last Congress, the legislation passed the U.S. House with bipartisan support and advanced farther than ever in the U.S. Senate.
The legislation is endorsed by more than 800 individuals and organizations, including the Quinault, Quileute, Elwha and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribes; over 30 local sportsmen organizations and fishing guides; the mayors of Port Angeles, Port Townsend, and other local elected officials; businesses and CEOs; farms and faith leaders; conservation and outdoor recreation groups; and many others. More than 12,000 local residents have also signed petitions in support.
The Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act has been carefully crafted through extensive community input to ensure the proposal will have no impact on existing timber jobs. It would permanently protect critical salmon habitat and sources of clean drinking water for local communities, while also protecting and expanding world-class outdoor recreation opportunities like hiking, camping, boating, hunting, and fishing without closing any roads.
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