06.28.01

Senator Maria Cantwell Announces Interior Appropriations for Washington State

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) today announced that she has secured funding in the fiscal year 2002 Senate Interior Appropriations bill for the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area Land Acquisition, Central Cascades land acquisition, Black River Unit land acquisition in the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, and Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve. The Interior Appropriations bill will be voted on by the Senate shortly after the July 4 recess.

"These funds in the Senate Interior Appropriations bill are tangible steps toward achieving our funding goals for lands projects in Washington state. I will continue to fight for these projects and other projects in the final appropriations bill," Cantwell concluded.

$6 million for the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area Land Acquisition. The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act was passed in 1986 after more than fifty years of advocacy for the establishment of a national park in the area. The Gorge is the nation's only National Scenic Area, comprising 83 miles of lands along the Columbia River and consisting of 292,500 acres in Clark, Skamania and Klickitat counties in Washington and three Oregon counties.

$4 million for the Central Cascades land acquisition to acquire lands that were part of the original I-90 land exchange in 1999 that were not ultimately transferred. Since little or no federal forest lands are available to trade to the company, funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund will be essential for the long-term protection of these lands. These lands include "checkerboard" holdings in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie and Wenatchee National Forests that contain critical wildlife habitat and extremely popular recreation lands near Interstate-90, White Pass Highway and Mount Ranier National Park. The acquisition would protect over 10 miles of the Cle Elum, Cooper, and Tieton rivers that are habitat for endangered salmon; it protects over 12 miles of hiking trails, over 6,000 acres of roadless area, and over 4,000 acres of old-growth forests in Kittitas, King, Pierce and Yakima.

$1 million for the Black River Unit land acquisition in the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. The Black River flows south of Olympia through dense shrub thickets, bogs and forested wetlands of the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. The lush wetlands are habitat for several species of salmon and trout, and support numerous species of migratory birds. The scenic area has not yet been developed, although suburban population growth in Thurston County has encroached on the river and commercial activities in the area have degraded the water quality and threatened the sensitive habitats. The river is one of the largest undisturbed freshwater wetland systems remaining in the Puget Sound area. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has partnered with private groups and the State of Washington to acquire several large properties that have been incorporated into the Black River unit. Several key sites that have been threatened by development in Thurston County have been identified as high priority targets for this acquisition.

$1 million in the Land and Water Conservation Fund for Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserveto supplement the $2 million in private funds already raised by the Nature Conservancy. The funding would protect 450 acres of the Pratt Estate within Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve, at the center of Whidbey Island. The Pratt Estate includes mature forest, fertile farmland, and lands critical to the health of a rare coastal lagoon within the Reserve, identified as one of the 19 most significant wetlands in the state. This funding is critical because privately held lands within the Reserve are at great risk for subdivision and development, due to the rapid growth from the Seattle area.