Jon Owens, policy manager for Pew's Campaign for America's Wilderness, issued the following statement praising Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) for introducing a measure to permanently safeguard more than 126,000 acres on Washington's Olympic Peninsula as wilderness and designate 19 rivers and tributaries as Wild and Scenic.
“This bill is the product of collaboration and cooperation and comes after years of discussion about how best to ensure that some of the Olympic Peninsula will stay forever as it is today—keeping the water clear, the air clean, and the landscapes unspoiled.
"Sen. Murray and Rep. Dicks deserve credit for listening to so many varied interests, addressing concerns, and finding common ground to protect the Peninsula's wild treasures. We urge Congress to quickly take up this conservation measure and send it to the president.”
Pew is a member of the Wild Olympics Campaign, a coalition of conservation, recreation, and sportsmen's groups that has worked for the past three years to raise awareness of and build community support for protecting the water, forests, and fish on the Peninsula.