It was with great sadness that I read the article in East County News on the recent town hall meeting to discuss the Wild Olympic proposal to add wilderness designation to several Forest Service lands on the Peninsula.
Even with the modifications and changes made to reflect concerns of Peninsula residents, the same questions (roads, Park Service additions, logging activity) keep being asked. It is as if no one is listening to the information from congressional staff or proponents of the campaign.
We all know that the Harbor area needs new industry and businesses to support jobs. It is also well known that where there is a good, healthy quality of life, plus where the citizens, business leaders, and local politicians work together, there is a stronger interest in living in the area and in bringing in businesses. Collaborative efforts around wilderness designation are working throughout the west – most recently in the Owhyee (Idaho and Oregon) where county commissioners, conservation groups, ranchers, recreationalists, tribes and many others came together to talk and support six areas that have now received wilderness designation – and in Nevada where national leaders have recognized a community-based wilderness proposal that has been recently introduced to Congress.
Collaboration takes time, effort, and patience, but the result is something that has brought these communities together. Wild Olympics has been collaborative and inclusive from the start.
Let's get on with getting together around the proposal.
Shelley Spalding
Elma
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