FINALLY: Wild Sky through Congress!

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Joel Connelly breaks the news that Congress has finally acted to set aside the beautiful Wild Sky wilderness for posterity:

Sen. Patty Murray has actually done a count of the days since maps were first unfurled, and activists first met in her Senate office, to talk about a different kind of wilderness in the Cascades.

After a gestation period of 3,405 days, Washington's newest wilderness area on Tuesday won overwhelming approval from the U.S. House of Representatives, and heads to President Bush's desk for his signature.

"I have learned so many of life's lessons with this bill," exclaimed Murray, D-Wash., who has championed the Wild Sky Wilderness Area.

The new 106,000-acre wilderness is located in the front range of the Cascades, north of the U.S. 2 Stevens Pass highway. It reaches from the north fork of the Skykomish River, a few hundred feet above sea level, to 6,200-foot summits of Mts. Merchant and Gunn above Index.

Dubya is expected to sign the bill, which means the legislative work is over. A precious area of the North Cascade Mountains and Puget Sound will soon be protected under federal law. It's a huge conservation victory.

We are very proud of our congressional Democrats who have tirelessly fought to make this happen. A special thanks goes to Senator Patty Murray and Representative Rick Larsen, and cheers to Representatives Jay Inslee, Norm Dicks, Brian Baird, Jim McDermott, Adam Smith and Senator Maria Cantwell.

We'll also thank Dave Reichert for his yes vote, although Darcy Burner's vote would have been an even more resounding yes.

Jeers to Republicans Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Doc Hastings, who voted against creating the Wild Sky wilderness. Both of you are an embarrassment to the State of Washington. Bush is going to sign it, so what is your problem? You couldn't fall in line and pretend to be conservationists?