WASHINGTON — Wild Olympics legislation is headed for its fourth go-around — and fourth sequence of opposition from North Olympic Peninsula timber interests.
The federal Wild Olympic and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 2015 was introduced in the House on Thursday by U.S. Rep Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, and in the Senate by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Seattle.
Like its 2014 predecessor, the proposed bill would protect 125,554 acres of Olympic National Forest and 464 miles of 19 rivers and major tributaries on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The acreage would be designated as wilderness and bring with it a prohibition on logging and permanent protection of old-growth forestland.
The rivers would be designated as wild and scenic, restricting development activities along their boundaries and not impinging upon private property rights, according to a joint statement released Thursday by Kilmer and Murray that was issued by Murray’s office.
The designated boundaries of rivers designated wild and scenic generally average 1-quarter mile on either bank, according to www.rivers.gov, a website dedicated to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
“We listened to small-business owners, landowners, tribes and environmental advocates in putting together a proposal that works for our local communities,” Kilmer, a Port Angeles native, said Thursday in a statement announcing the legislation.
Kilmer’s 6th Congressional District includes Clallam and Jefferson counties.
“It is part of a practical, balanced strategy to protect the natural beauty of our region while attracting businesses and helping them stay, grow and invest in our future,” he said.
But the proposal appears destined to confront familiar opposition from the North Olympic Timber Action Committee (NOTAC), a group representing timber interests.
The group remains “absolutely” opposed to the legislation, Executive Director Carol Johnson said Thursday.
“There is no economic component to the proposal,” she said.
Johnson acknowledged that much of the would-be protected acreage is steeply sloped or otherwise cannot be logged.
But she said Kilmer and Murray have never discussed NOTAC’s counterproposal to the Wild Olympic legislation.
NOTAC would trade its support for the legislation for the ability to log, in perpetuity, 150,000 acres of well-roaded second-growth forest areas that have in the past been routinely harvested but are not now under the federal Northwest Forest Plan.
“We are asking for a change in the Northwest Forest Plan,” Johnson said.
“We had foresters go out there who determined they should be available for harvest.”
The Wild Olympics legislation has never proceeded to a full vote of the House or Senate.
In 2014, it did not make it out of committee in either chamber.
“While it’s true that excessive partisanship and dysfunction have made it tough to get things done in our nation’s capital, I’m committed to working hard to advance this and other common-sense legislation,” Kilmer said Thursday in an email to the Peninsula Daily News.
The legislation will head to the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“Our office has taken input from all sides so the bill works for everyone,” Murray spokeswoman Kerry Arndt said Thursday.
“There are many stakeholders that have played a part in this process.”
Arndt said Murray would not have introduced the bill if she believed it would not receive Senate consideration.
“Republicans are in control,” Arndt added.
“It’s a very challenging environment.”
The Quilcene-based Wild Olympics Coalition’s more expansive proposal formed the basis for all four iterations of the legislation, first introduced by former longtime U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, Kilmer’s predecessor.
Coalition chair Connie Gallant hailed Kilmer’s and Murray’s introduction of the 2015 version.
“It would safeguard critical salmon habitat and sources of clean drinking water for our local communities,” she said Thursday in a statement.
“And it would protect our unmatched quality of life on the Peninsula.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
