With the passage of the legistation creating the Wild Sky Wilderness after an enduring logjam, there is renewed interest all over western Washington in protecting more of our forest heritage. The Mount Baker Wild steering committee has completed its groundtruthing and mapping projects and has been joined by the Seven Rivers organization, which is developing a wilderness proposal to the south of the Mount Baker area, in beginning the big job of public outreach to inspire interest in wilderness.

The first step is renewing our ever-popular series of hikes into the areas we are proposing for wilderness protection, so that as many people as possible can get a close, personal look at what is at stake. You can view the hiking schedule online or download a printable version.

NSEA's big annual fundraiser will be held on Saturday June 28th this year and will feature great music, an art show and both lunch and dinner sesson. See the NSEA website for more information.

The Wilderness Society has recently begun to focus its attention on Mount Baker and the North Cascades. For more information see:

• the society's February newsletter
• and their North Cascades page

The Wild Sky Wilderness proposal has finally passed the US House of Representatives! Read more in these area newspapers:

• Bellingham Herald
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• Everett Herald

To learn more about this issue go to the Washington Wilderness Coalition