I live on the West End. I hunt and I fish. Indeed, I make my living writing about hunting and fishing and by guiding fly fisherman. And I am an enthusiastic supporter of the Wild Olympics Campaign.
This is what the campaign wants to do: expand the wilderness areas in Olympic National Forest, designate the portions of the region's major rivers that flow through federal and state land as wild and scenic, and create modest national preserves around Olympic National Park at Lake Ozette, Lake Crescent and the Queets.
Why do I want this campaign to succeed?
The current national park and wilderness boundaries in the Olympics are the result of political negotiations, not ecological considerations. In recent decades, as scientists have learned more about the complex and interwoven nature of ecosystems—things such as mycorrhizal layers and hyporheic zones—it has become clear that some areas that are critical to fish, wildlife and water quality are vulnerable to degradation, even development.
Recently, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks and Sen. Patty Murray put forth an alternative path toward the Wild Olympics proposals. This alternative path included the idea of a national preserve for areas identified as being critical habitat for salmon, steelhead and other wildlife. This is a key distinction from the ways of the past.
The announcement solidified my support because I still will be able to hunt, hike with my dog, Ruby, camp and forage for berries and mushrooms if these areas become wilderness, wild and scenic rivers or national preserves.
Residents of local timber communities, of course, have understandable questions and concerns about the proposals’ effect on their economies. Olympic National Forest holdings, which can logged, will be removed from the timber base if they become wilderness. But nearly all of the land proposed for wilderness is already off limits to logging because of existing protections such as the Northwest Forest Plan and Roadless Rule. So the “Wilderness” designation will have a negligible effect on the timber base, but it will permanently protect some of the best hunting and fishing spots on the forest.
Timber companies own most of the land proposed to create the national preserves. All acquisitions will be on a "willing seller" basis. This means that if timber land owners are concerned about the timber base, they need never sell to the park. Because of this, the campaign anticipates that sales to the park, if any, would be acquired slowly, one property at a time, over many years. As a result, the impact on local economies will be limited and based entirely on decisions made by the land owners.
As for access, all of the lands proposed for wilderness, wild and scenic rivers and national preserves will remain open to the public. That's not something you can assume any more about the peninsula's timberlands. You can't hunt or fish on certain commercial timberlands unless you are willing to buy an annual permit. Within the last couple of years, timber landowners have posted large swaths of their holdings between the Bogachiel and Hoh rivers. And timberlands south of Highway 104 near Beaver Valley Road, traditionally one of the most productive blacktailed deer hunting areas on the peninsula, is closed this year.
If timber landowners ever want to sell their land, Congressman Dicks and Sen. Murray’s draft proposal creates an option—not a mandate—to bring these lands into public ownership and provide permanent hunting and fishing access where there is now none.
In addition, if the proposed wilderness designation were already in effect, deer hunters would have had 130,000 more acres to hunt during the September "High Buck Hunt." Located exclusively on the peninsula's wilderness areas, the High Buck Hunt allows hunters willing to walk away from the roads an opportunity to pursue some of the region's most impressive bucks in the Olympics' most magnificent settings.
I will be the first to acknowledge that rural residents of the Olympic Peninsula often have taken it on the chin as a result of decisions imposed on them by people who live far from here and who have no idea about how we live. The land condemnations in the Queets Valley and at Ruby Beach to create the national park were heavy-handed, at best. More recently, the statewide vote to ban hound hunting ended an important part of the heritage of timber communities, one that also effectively managed large predator populations.
But that is not how the Wild Olympics Campaign has operated. Their coalition is driven and led by four local Peninsula groups. The Chair of the campaign lives in Quilcene. Over the last couple of years, they have met with scores of Olympic Peninsula residents. They approached me last year and heard my concerns about the wilderness boundaries in the Calawah watershed. Congressman Dicks and Sen. Murray have continued this process by making substantive changes to the Wild Olympics
Campaign as a result of their own consultations and have tailored their proposal to address concerns and the ideas of West End timber communities, the tribes and sportsmen, not to mention the ideas of other 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.
Doug Rose is an outdoor writer and fly-fishing guide based in Forks and a former columnist for the Sequim Gazette. He is the author of three books on fly-fishing as well as articles for national hunting and fishing magazines.
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