Wild Sky Wilderness Bill Passed by Senate. By Jennifer A. Dloughy, SeattlePI, April 11, 2008. "A long-stalled plan to wall off more than 106,000 acres of Washington state wilderness from motorists and loggers moved one step closer to becoming law Thursday when the Senate passed a bill authorizing the project. The measure, which would create the Wild Sky Wilderness Area, now heads to the House, which is expected to pass it quickly and send it to President Bush. The president has not indicated whether he would sign the legislation... If the legislation passes the House, the Wild Sky bill will confer the highest level of protection afforded federal property on 106,577 acres in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, about 90 minutes by car from downtown Seattle. Wild Sky would become the first new wilderness area in Washington state in 23 years... The area would be off limits to vehicles, including bicycles and snowmobiles... Logging, mining and other commercial uses would be banned... Over the course of nine years, Wild Sky ran into roadblocks... The bill passed the Senate several times, only to run into strong opposition in the House. Rancher and former Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., staunchly opposed the Wild Sky project and used his chairmanship of the House Natural Resources Committee to keep it from passing the House. Pombo lost his bid for re-election in November 2006, when Democrats recaptured control of the House."
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