The U.S. Senate Tuesday passed a , with measures meant to protect lands across the country. It鈥檚 expected to have a big impact on Washington鈥檚 lands, rivers and more.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, co-sponsored the bill. She said the bipartisan legislation would be a boon for people who use public lands and waterways in Washington, especially because these natural resources need more protection in the face of a changing climate.
鈥淎ccessing our public lands and using the resource wisely and protecting it against these threats is important,鈥� Cantwell said.
Mike Stevens, Washington director for the conservation group The Nature Conservancy, said the fund has helped protect important public lands in the state, from Mount Rainier to Seattle鈥檚 Gas Works Park.
鈥淭hese are places that we all love, we care about. We take our families there. They become part of our memory and our heritage,鈥� Stevens said.
Stevens said work to conserve those places takes years. He said that鈥檚 why the fund should be permanently re-authorized. Opponents said the fund is a land-grab by the federal government.
The bill, which passed 92-8, includes provisions Cantwell championed for years. It would authorize the next phase of a multibillion-dollar water project in Central Washington鈥檚 Yakima Basin that supporters say aims to provide enough water for fish, farmers and cities.
The bill will move the water project鈥檚 initial development phase forward, including a that would pump water out of Kachess Lake in Washington鈥檚 Cascade mountains to help supply water to the Yakima Basin during low water years.
鈥淚rrigated agriculture in the Yakima provides $4.5 billion in economic productivity, not only for the state, but the nation. But that productivity needs water. The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan provides a path for our irrigation districts to make it through drought and low snowpack years as well as supporting important fisheries,鈥� said Scott Revell, manager of Roza Irrigation District, in a statement.
Opponents of the plan say it's too costly and that it won鈥檛 be able to accomplish what it claims, only furthering environmental damage and hurting water supplies in the basin.
The public lands bill also designates an existing museum in Seattle as the National Nordic Museum. It also provides money to expand the Northwest鈥檚 network of volcano monitoring observatories. The bill would advance wildfire technology, including the use of drones and GPS systems to help locate fire starts and firefighters.
It would protect the Methow River headwaters in North Central Washington from industrial mining development and mineral exploration. The bill withdraws 340,079 acres in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest from development.
鈥淭here are many areas where mining is appropriate, but the Methow Headwaters is not such a place,鈥� said Maggie Coon of the Methow Headwaters Campaign, .
The issue came to a head in 2014 with a proposal to explore copper deposits in the area, which drew widespread community concerns about wildlife and recreational opportunities.
The bill now moves to the House.
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