Improved bill would save Olympic wilderness

As early as 1832, the idea had surfaced that America should protect unique wilderness areas as pioneering settlements moved westward. It was a hit-and-miss concept until 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive Order to create a National Park...

Wild Olympics bill good for generations

I was happy to hear that Rep. Derek Kilmer and Sen. Patty Murray introduced legislation to protect additional Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers on the Olympic Peninsula. Rep. Kilmer understands that long term economic recovery requires firing on all cylinders —...

New Wild Olympics proposal is applauded, lambasted

Environmentalists, real estate agents, shellfish business owners and business leaders are applauding the introduction by Rep. Derek Kilmer and Sen. Patty Murray of the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 2014. But not everyone is happy about it....

To save our last, best places

Conservationists make great ancestors. Booth Gardner’s adage may comfort Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Derek Kilmer, who introduced their Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act on Friday. Wilderness battles, even ones as scrutinized and sensible as this,...