I applaud U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer for re-introducing the Wild Olympics bill in the new Congress.
The bill is now more important than ever.
Almost all the land proposed for wilderness designation by the bill has, heretofore, been protected by U.S. Forest Service policies.
But they are policy, not law, and the Trump administration is a clear and present danger to a host of environmental policies.
The lands and rivers protected by the Wild Olympics bill deserve and need permanent legislative protection.
A recent letter to the editor (“No Wild Olympics,” March 28 Peninsula Voices) from Phillip Kitchel — a one-term Clallam County commissioner back in the 1990s — attacks the bill.
He bemoans the lost good old days when timber was king (and he was electable).
He’s the ghost of Christmas past.
Political leaders like state Reps. Mike Chapman and Steve Tharinger, who endorse Wild Olympics, are attuned to a realistic, sustainable and vibrant future for the North Olympic Peninsula.
Marc Sullivan,
Sequim