A legislative and grassroots effort lasting nearly eight years ended victoriously this month when President Bush signed a bill on May 8 creating the Wild Sky Wilderness. The proposal was first introduced to Congress in 2002.

The area, which covers approximately 106, 000 acres of low-elevation forest on the west slope of the Cascades, is now designated federal wilderness, protected from such activities as mining, logging, and the passage of any motorized vehicles. Wild Sky is the first new area in Washington state in 24 years to receive this highest level of federal protection.

One of Wild Sky's major triumphs, according to a fact sheet from the Sierra Club, is the new wilderness' inclusion of 14,000 acres of rare low-elevation old growth. Of the state's 2.5 million acres of designated wilderness, only 6% includes low elevation lands below 3,000 feet, and those critical low-lying areas are where valuable old-growth forest is found. The lower areas are historically more difficult to protect because of existing roads and previous logging of these forests. Wild Sky itself was blocked in Congress when House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif) stated the area was not pristine enough to warrant wilderness designation.

The new wilderness also directly protects more than 25 miles of salmon and steelhead spawning streams, and protects critical watersheds that ensure healthy spawning habitat for many miles downstream of the preserve. According to Benjamin Greuel, Sierra Club public lands organizer, preserving large swaths of land like Wild Sky is a key strategy to maintaining "resilient habitat," protecting wildlife migration corridors and space for other natural behavior that give animals and ecosystems more of a fighting chance in the face of habitat destruction and climate change.

The bill's champion was U.S. Senator Patty Murray, along with Representative Rick Larsen, both D-Wash. According to Sierra Club records, the bill also enjoyed support from more than 350 current and former city, county and state elected officials throughout Washington state; more than 100 businesses within 20 miles of the proposed wilderness, and more than 50 conservation and recreation organizations.