Wild, roadless forests in Washington

Conservation Northwest advocates protection for wilderness-quality lands in the Columbia Highlands.

Wilderness can be simply defined as a place where nature is left to her own devices, where humans are just a visitor, and development, in the form of road-building, logging, or other industrial activities, are not allowed or sometimes not even possible.

But wilderness is more than that. It is where our culture began.

“We need wilderness preserved—as much of it as is still left, and as many kinds—because it was the challenge against which our character as a people was formed.” -Wallace Stegner

Washington State's wilderness act

The Washington Wilderness bill, passed in 1984, protects such areas as the Glacier Peak Wilderness, North Cascades Wilderness, and Alpine Lakes Wilderness Areas. And yet, although hundreds of thousands more acres met the requirements of wilderness in eastern Washington, only a small piece in the Selkirk Mountains, the Salmo-Priest Wilderness, was protected in that bill.

Today, the only piece of wilderness legislation introduced for Washington since 1984 is the Wild Sky wilderness bill, which is expected to pass soon in both the House and the Senate.

Wilderness on the Colville National Forest

Many thousands of acres of lands that deserve wilderness protection lie in the Columbia Highlands. Most of these roadless forests are found on the Colville National Forest.

Protecting the remaining third of the national forest that remains unfragmented by road building and logging would keep these lands available for a multitude of uses and maintain their unique wilderness values into the future.

Why wilderness?

Over a century ago, conservationists had the foresight to begin protecting undeveloped lands in Washington State and elsewhere around the U.S. to ensure that some places remain wild forever. The Wilderness Act of 1964 required that the federal government identify and designate formal wilderness areas to protect them from development.

Wilderness designation keeps lands wild: protecting wildlife habitat, clean drinking water, and a living laboratory for scientific research and environmental education. Washingtonians have a tradition of fishing and hunting, hiking and horseback riding through our forests, scaling mountain peaks, and enjoying wilderness as a quiet refuge for the human spirit. We protect wilderness to preserve these cherished values, and simply to preserve the remnants of the vast open spaces that once spanned our nation, coast to coast. But most of all, we protect wilderness for our children – and for generations to come.

More wilderness questions & answers