Wilderness Watch is concerned about proposed amendments to the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) that could harm Wilderness, specifically by manipulating Wilderness with tree cutting and lighting fires, potentially via motorized and mechanized means. The plan covers 3.7 million acres of Wilderness across 17 national forests in Oregon, Washington, and California—including the Diamond Peak, Three Sisters, North Cascades, Mount Rainier, and Trinity Alps Wildernesses, among many others. Northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, coastal marten, pacific fisher, black bear, salmon, and steelhead could be affected by road construction and other negative impacts to their habitat.
The NWFP amendments draft environmental impact statement fails to protect Wilderness by grouping it with other types of public land, rather than clearly stating that Wilderness will be managed as Wilderness. Our comments highlighted that the Forest Service must distinguish Wilderness as separate from other land designations when considering management actions and should detail how it will manage Wilderness differently, including forgoing burning and letting naturally-ignited wildfires run their course. Ultimately, the agency must protect the wilderness character of the Wilderness areas covered by the NWFP, rather than manage Wilderness for desired conditions, as it seeks to do with its proposed amendments.
Wilderness areas within the Northwest Forest Plan area include:
Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Badger Creek Wilderness
Boulder Creek Wilderness
Boulder River Wilderness
Buckhorn Wilderness
Bull of the Woods Wilderness
Caribou Wilderness
Castle Crags Wilderness
Chanchelulla Wilderness
Clackamas Wilderness
Clearwater Wilderness
Colonel Bob Wilderness
Copper Salmon Wilderness
Cummins Creek Wilderness
Daniel J. Evans Wilderness (formerly Olympic Wilderness)
Diamond Peak Wilderness
Drift Creek Wilderness
Gearhart Mountain Wilderness
Glacier Peak Wilderness
Goat Rocks Wilderness
Grassy Knob Wilderness
Henry M. Jackson Wilderness
Indian Heaven Wilderness
Ishi Wilderness
Kalmiopsis Wilderness
Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness
Lower White River Wilderness
Marble Mountain Wilderness
Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness
Menagerie Wilderness
Middle Santiam Wilderness
Mount Adams Wilderness
Mount Baker Wilderness
Mount Hood Wilderness
Mount Jefferson Wilderness
Mount Lassic Wilderness
Mount Shasta Wilderness
Mount Skokomish Wilderness
Mount Thielsen Wilderness
Mount Washington Wilderness
Mountain Lakes Wilderness
Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness
Norse Peak Wilderness
North Fork Eel Wilderness
Opal Creek Wilderness
Pasayten Wilderness (parts fall within NWFP influence)
Red Buttes Wilderness
Rock Creek Wilderness
Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness
Russian Wilderness
Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness
Sanhedrin Wilderness
Siskiyou Wilderness
Sky Lakes Wilderness
Snow Mountain Wilderness
Soda Mountain Wilderness (managed by BLM, within NWFP geography)
The Brothers Wilderness
Thousand Lakes Wilderness
Three Sisters Wilderness
Trapper Creek Wilderness
Trinity Alps Wilderness
Waldo Lake Wilderness
Wild Rogue Wilderness (also managed by BLM)
Wild Sky Wilderness
William O. Douglas Wilderness
Wonder Mountain Wilderness
Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness
Yuki Wilderness
Photo: Diamond Peak Wilderness, Oregon by USFS
