MORE ON WILD SKY!
The US National Wilderness Preservation System protects federally managed land areas that are of a pristine condition. It was established by the Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577) upon the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964. The National Wilderness Preservation System originally created hundreds of wilderness zones within already protected federally administered property, consisting of over 9 million acres. As of January 2008, a total of 702 separate wilderness areas, encompassing 107,436,608 acres (434,781 km²) had been set aside.
On federal lands in the United States, Congress may designate an area as wilderness under the provisions of the Wilderness Act of 1964. Wilderness areas are subject to specific management restrictions. Human activities are restricted to non-motorized recreation (such as backpacking, hunting, fishing, horseback riding*, etc.), scientific research, and other non-invasive activities*. In general, the law prohibits logging, mining, roads, mechanized vehicles (including bicycles), and other forms of development. The Wilderness Act is the legal basis for the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS).
*Horseback riding is restricted to "established trails" approved by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. The latest rule making groups from several Federal agencies has found that Horseback riding or use of pack animals in MANY wilderness areas harm NATIVE vegetation AND HAS BEEN FORBIDDEN. This will almost certainly be the case with WILD SKY.
One can't just pick a spot on the map and walk on into Wild Sky IF IT BECOMES A WILDERNESS AREA. Specific access only trails will be marked and set out. Most if not all of the current access roads within the area will be blocked off by the National Park Service to prevent any motorized vehicles from entering, even to fight forest fires. There is early indication that access will be severely restricted. Wilderness classification is NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. As for the average family, a 15 to 50 mile walk to access recreational areas within Wild Sky and then be faced with 'stick to the trail and don't do anything' set of complicated rules, is absurd. In other words a visitor could be arrested for disturbing a protected plant, bird or animal.
What this all boils down to is this: Wild Sky should not be designated a 'wilderness area' under the law. It is going to cause economic damage to retail and service merchants in Sultan, Gold Bar and Index. Cities already struggling to pay their bills and keep businesses open are opposed to this designation. This entire episode is being paid for by the usual crackpot environ-nazi suspects: The Brainerd and the Bullitt Foundations and their step child Futurewise or what used to be called "The Thousand Friends of Washington". This is the same group that sought to put an end to "Little League Baseball" in Snohomish County.