Attend the Wild Olympics Proposal Public Meeting in Port Angeles. Dec 3rd

Saturday, December 3 from 3:00pm-5:00pm at the Museum at the Carnegie.  207 S. Lincoln St., Port Angeles, WA

This has been an exciting year with the beginning of the removal of the Elwha Dam.  The Olympics peninsular is a spectacular place and its protection is a key part of restoring the health of the Puget Sound/Straits.  Another big step is being proposed by Representative Norm Dicks and Senator Patty:  the Olympic Watersheds Protection Proposal.

Their local offices are holding a series of four public workshops to allow citizens and communities to provide additional feedback on the proposal.

The Olympic Wilderness proposal was crafted after more than a year was spent gathering input from local stakeholders and submitted to the offices of Representative Dicks and Senator Murray and would:

• Designate roughly 130,000 acres of new wilderness on Forest Service Land.
• Add 23 rivers within public land ownership to the Wild and Scenic River System.
• Provide the opportunity for Olympic National Park (ONP) to purchase up to 20,000 acres through a willing buyer, willing seller process for addition as a preserve to the Park.  Currently, ONP cannot purchase land within their General Management Plan without Congressional Action.
• Protect hunting, fishing and recreational access.

Please attend one of the public workshops and give your opinion about the plan.