This bill, the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, designates about 126,554 acres of Olympic National Forest land as new or expanded wilderness areas. It names many specific areas (for example, Lost Creek, Rugged Ridge, Buckhorn additions, Wonder Mountain, Moonlight Dome, Sams River, and others) and establishes about 5,346 acres as "potential wilderness" that becomes full wilderness once nonconforming uses end. The bill also amends the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to add many river segments in the Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest (for example, the Elwha River and segments of the Dungeness, Dosewallips, Hoh, Queets, and Sol Duc rivers). River segments are assigned classes (wild, scenic, or recreational) and are to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior as specified. The bill requires filing maps and legal descriptions, allows the Secretaries to carry out river restoration or species recovery projects consistent with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and withdraws land in the river boundaries from mining and mineral leasing, subject to valid existing rights. It also states that nothing in the bill changes reserved treaty rights of Indian Tribes.
If you visit or use land or rivers in the Olympic National Forest or Olympic National Park, some areas will receive new protections and be managed as wilderness or as wild, scenic, or recreational river segments. Those designated wilderness areas must be managed under the Wilderness Act and the rivers under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, with administration by the appropriate federal agency (Forest Service or National Park Service). The bill requires maps and legal descriptions to be filed publicly. Existing private rights, contracts, and tribal treaty rights are not changed by this bill. Some river sections will be managed through cooperative agreements with the State of Washington. The Secretary may take actions to control fire, insects, and disease in the new wilderness areas.
No publicly available information on overall costs or budget estimates. The bill does require the Secretary of Agriculture to update National Forest land and resource management plans within set timeframes (3 years, or 5 years if an agency requests additional budget funds), and it allows the Secretary to include a request for additional sums in annual budget submissions to Congress to meet that requirement.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.