II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 520 

To enhance ecosystem protection and the range of outdoor opportunities 

protected by statute in the Skykomish River valley of the State of 

Washington by designating certain lower-elevation Federal lands as wilderness, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2007 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To enhance ecosystem protection and the range of outdoor 

opportunities protected by statute in the Skykomish 

River valley of the State of Washington by designating 

certain lower-elevation Federal lands as wilderness, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wild Sky Wilderness 

5 Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ADDITIONS TO THE NATIONAL WILDERNESS PRES2 ERVATION SYSTEM. 

3 (a) ADDITIONS.—The following Federal lands in the 

4 State of Washington are hereby designated as wilderness 

5 and, therefore, as components of the National Wilderness 

6 Preservation System: certain lands which comprise ap7 proximately 106,000 acres, as generally depicted on a map 

8 entitled ‘‘Wild Sky Wilderness Proposal’’ and dated Feb9 ruary 6, 2007, which shall be known as the ‘‘Wild Sky 

10 Wilderness’’. 

11 (b) MAPS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—As soon as 

12 practicable after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

13 Secretary of Agriculture shall file a map and a legal de14 scription for the wilderness area designated under this Act 

15 with the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

16 the Senate and the Committee on Resources of the House 

17 of Representatives. The map and description shall have 

18 the same force and effect as if included in this Act, except 

19 that the Secretary of Agriculture may correct clerical and 

20 typographical errors in the legal description and map. The 

21 map and legal description shall be on file and available 

22 for public inspection in the office of the Chief of the Forest 

23 Service, Department of Agriculture. 

24 SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION PROVISIONS. 

25 (a) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 (1) Subject to valid existing rights, lands des2 ignated as wilderness by this Act shall be managed 

3 by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with 

4 the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) and 

5 this Act, except that, with respect to any wilderness 

6 areas designated by this Act, any reference in the 

7 Wilderness Act to the effective date of the Wilder8 ness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the 

9 date of enactment of this Act. 

10 (2) To fulfill the purposes of this Act and the 

11 Wilderness Act and to achieve administrative effi12 ciencies, the Secretary of Agriculture may manage 

13 the area designated by this Act as a comprehensive 

14 part of the larger complex of adjacent and nearby 

15 wilderness areas. 

16 (b) NEW TRAILS.— 

17 (1) The Secretary of Agriculture shall consult 

18 with interested parties and shall establish a trail 

19 plan for Forest Service lands in order to develop— 

20 (A) a system of hiking and equestrian 

21 trails within the wilderness designated by this 

22 Act in a manner consistent with the Wilderness 

23 Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.); and 


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1 (B) a system of trails adjacent to or to 

2 provide access to the wilderness designated by 

3 this Act. 

4 (2) Within two years after the date of enact5 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall 

6 complete a report on the implementation of the trail 

7 plan required under this Act. This report shall in8 clude the identification of priority trails for develop9 ment. 

10 (c) REPEATER SITE.—Within the Wild Sky Wilder11 ness, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to use heli12 copter access to construct and maintain a joint Forest 

13 Service and Snohomish County telecommunications re14 peater site, in compliance with a Forest Service approved 

15 communications site plan, for the purposes of improving 

16 communications for safety, health, and emergency serv17 ices. 

18 (d) FLOAT PLANE ACCESS.—As provided by section 

19 4(d)(1) of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)(1)), the 

20 use of floatplanes on Lake Isabel, where such use has al21 ready become established, shall be permitted to continue 

22 subject to such reasonable restrictions as the Secretary of 

23 Agriculture determines to be desirable. 

24 (e) EVERGREEN MOUNTAIN LOOKOUT.—The des25 ignation under this Act shall not preclude the operation 


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1 and maintenance of the existing Evergreen Mountain 

2 Lookout in the same manner and degree in which the op3 eration and maintenance of such lookout was occurring 

4 as of the date of enactment of this Act. 

5 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION FOR LAND ACQUISITION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture is 

7 authorized to acquire lands and interests therein, by pur8 chase, donation, or exchange, and shall give priority con9 sideration to those lands identified as ‘‘Priority Acquisi10 tion Lands’’ on the map described in section 2(a). The 

11 boundaries of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest 

12 and the Wild Sky Wilderness shall be adjusted to encom13 pass any lands acquired pursuant to this section. 

14 (b) ACCESS.—Consistent with section 5(a) of the Wil15 derness Act (16 U.S.C. 1134(a)), the Secretary of Agri16 culture shall ensure adequate access to private inholdings 

17 within the Wild Sky Wilderness. 

18 (c) APPRAISAL.—Valuation of private lands shall be 

19 determined without reference to any restrictions on access 

20 or use which arise out of designation as a wilderness area 

21 as a result of this Act. 

22 SEC. 5. LAND EXCHANGES. 

23 The Secretary of Agriculture shall exchange lands 

24 and interests in lands, as generally depicted on a map enti25 tled ‘‘Chelan County Public Utility District Exchange’’ 


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1 and dated May 22, 2002, with the Chelan County Public 

2 Utility District in accordance with the following provi3 sions: 

4 (1) If the Chelan County Public Utility District, 

5 within ninety days after the date of enactment of 

6 this Act, offers to the Secretary of Agriculture ap7 proximately 371.8 acres within the Mt. Baker8 Snoqualmie National Forest in the State of Wash9 ington, the Secretary shall accept such lands. 

10 (2) Upon acceptance of title by the Secretary of 

11 Agriculture to such lands and interests therein, the 

12 Secretary of Agriculture shall convey to the Chelan 

13 County Public Utility District a permanent ease14 ment, including helicopter access, consistent with 

15 such levels as used as of date of enactment, to main16 tain an existing telemetry site to monitor snow pack 

17 on 1.82 acres on the Wenatchee National Forest in 

18 the State of Washington. 

19 (3) The exchange directed by this Act shall be 

20 consummated if Chelan County Public Utility Dis21 trict conveys title acceptable to the Secretary and 

22 provided there is no hazardous material on the site, 

23 which is objectionable to the Secretary. 

24 (4) In the event Chelan County Public Utility 

25 District determines there is no longer a need to 


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1 maintain a telemetry site to monitor the snow pack 

2 for calculating expected runoff into the Lake Chelan 

3 hydroelectric project and the hydroelectric projects 

4 in the Columbia River Basin, the Secretary shall be 

5 notified in writing and the easement shall be extin6 guished and all rights conveyed by this exchange 

7 shall revert to the United States. 

Æ 


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