Dave Bailey (secretary and past president, Greywolf Fly Fishing Club, and past vice president, Rainshadow Chapter, Trout Unlimited – Gardiner, WA) (View PDF of Ad)
As a local fisherman, I understand the importance of preserving healthy fish stocks on the Olympic Peninsula. Recreational fishing draws thousands of visitors here, keeping local economies afloat. Sadly, what once was the salmon capital of the world can barely support sport and commercial activity today. But our wild salmon and steelhead stocks can recover if we protect and restore their habitat—through new wilderness and wild and scenic rivers, That’s why I support the Wild Olympics Campaign. We are working together to ensure that our children and grandchildren will be able to experience these outstanding waterways at their best. We are finding common ground to protect our wild forests and rivers for the clean water, salmon and steelhead we need.
The Port Townsend residents I serve get their drinking water from the Big Quilcene watershed. This intact wild forest and river watershed is both a natural filter for our water and a majestic outdoor recreation destination that attracts visitors and bolsters our local economy. Watersheds like the “Big Quil” are also what make the Olympic Peninsula such a beautiful and special place where people want to live and raise their families. That’s why as a public official, I support protecting our remaining intact watersheds—for our families and our future. Fortunately, we still have time to act. Local residents from diverse backgrounds in the Wild Olympics Campaign are talking about how best to protect the wild forests and rivers we love for the clean water and salmon we need. Whether it’s safeguarding the wild forests in the Big Quilcene watershed as wilderness or preserving the views and trails of Dirty Face Ridge—we are seeking common ground.
Hood Canal is home to the two largest hatcheries that supply seed to the West Coast shellfish industry—which directly supports more than 150 local jobs and many more in related industries such as processing, sales and shipping. By protecting Olympic Peninsula forest and river watersheds, we ensure clean and safe water so that shellfish companies can continue to grow and benefit the economy and ecology of Washington state. These watersheds are also natural filters for drinking water and vital to a healthy Hood Canal and Puget Sound. We must do all we can to protect the peninsula forest and river watersheds to guarantee our inland waters stay clear and sparkling. Today folks in the Wild Olympics Campaign are coming together to find the best way to do just that—to find common ground to protect our wild forests and rivers for the clean water and salmon we need.
Jason Bausher, Co-Founder of Sportsmen for Wild Olympics (Quinault, WA) (View PDF of Ad)
I’m an NRA Life Member who grew up in Aberdeen. Today I work in the timber industry. Living on the North Shore of Lake Quinault, I look across the water and see the spectacular South Quinault Ridge each morning.
After coming home from the mill in Raymond and spending time with my family, there is nothing I like more than hunting during the Golden Hour. The Wild Olympics Campaign is working to protect South Quinault Ridge. Not a single mile of road on Olympic National Forest or in Olympic National Park would be closed by the proposal. If you can drive there now, nothing in the Wild Olympics Proposal will change that. But it will ensure that my daughter–and her kids–will have greater opportunity to hunt, fish and otherwise enjoy our outdoor traditions.
The Olympic Peninsula and our beautiful coast draw visitors from all over. During our 22 years in Westport, we’ve watched people come here to fish, clam, surf, birdwatch, hike, camp, beachcomb and otherwise enjoy our wild coast. They stay in motels like ours, eat in local restaurants, shop in area stores, or choose to make their homes here–keeping our community’s cash registers ringing. In Gray’s Harbor County, travel spending alone brought in more than $253 million in 2009–directly supporting 4,900 jobs–nearly 16 percent of our county’s employment.
The Wild Olympics proposal will permanently protect the same treasures that draw these people to the Harbor–our unique low elevation ancient rainforests, sparkling wild rivers and crystal–clear water, and our abundant birds, wildlife and salmon runs. These priceless natural assets are the very foundation of both our tourism and fishing industries, and deserve the full, permanent protection Wild Olympics would provide. Tailor made by local input for access and sensitivity to the timber base, Wild Olympics will help ensure a bright economic future for all of us.
Roy Nott (Former President and CEO, Paneltech Intl. – Hoquiam, WA) (View PDF of Ad)
The son and grandson of Pacific County loggers, I was proud to take a well-paying job in the northwest logging industry when I finished college. During a long stint with ITT Rayonier, I developed the company’s northwest forest business plan and managed its timberlands operations in Forks before I was sent east. But the magnificent forests and rivers of the wild coast eventually drew me back “home,” where I helped start Paneltech, a company that now employs 50 people at the Port of Grays Harbor.
This area badly needs new family-wage jobs. Some will come from our commercial forests. But we also need to attract more entrepreneurs that create more value-added jobs. They will need uniquely-skilled people, the kind drawn here, as I was, because our ancient forests and river watersheds provide clean water, healthy salmon runs, world-class hunting and fishing and an unrivaled quality of life.
The Wild Olympics plan will permanently protect these natural amenities vital to our economic future. But the plan also shows great sensitivity toward private property and the commercial timber base. The public land considered in the proposal is already off limits to logging under current Forest Service rules. A healthier timber industry adding more value locally can contribute toward the restoration of our area’s economic vitality. But we also need new companies with new ideas, new value-added jobs and new sources of raw material. With the Wild Olympics plan, we can have both.
Doug Rose (Hunter, Fishing Guide & Outdoor Writer – Forks, WA) – at request of family (View PDF of Ad)
As an outdoor writer, fly fishing guide, and avid duck and grouse hunter, I welcome the additional protections that the Wild Olympics Campaign is proposing. They will help protect the water quality that anadromous fish require, and preserve the upper basin spawning grounds of species like cutthroat, summer steelhead and bull trout.
As someone who makes my living in the great outdoors, access is important to me. The changes adopted by Congressman Dicks and Senator Murray in their draft proposal ensure I will still be able to hunt, hike with my dog, camp, and forage for berries and mushrooms in all the areas proposed for wilderness. Wild and Scenic River designation for our rivers will ensure access for designated stretches.
The Wild Olympics proposal is tailored to the concerns and ideas of people who live on the Olympic Peninsula — and who want to leave its most important areas in at least as good a shape as we received them. That’s worth supporting.