Alpine Lakes Wilderness - History

History

The wilderness was originally designated the Alpine Lakes Limited Area in 1946, but this designation did not offer protection from resource extractions and was exclusively regulated by the United States Forest Service. The region and adjacent areas were being extensively used for mining, timber extraction, and fur trapping leading to roads, clear cuts and ecological degradation. Efforts to further protect the lower valley forests of Alpine Lakes began in the 1950s by the North Cascades Conservation Council formed in 1957 and in October 1968 the Alpine Lakes Protection Society was formed. However, it was the plans of the Snoqualmie National Forest to expand timber sales and build a road up the Miller River valley to Lake Dorothy and then onto the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to the city of North Bend that started a grassroots campaign to remove the unilateral decision making away from the Forest Service. In addition, there was much criticism by conservationists that recreational usage should not be exclusive to the upper alpine terrain as the regional forestry leadership advocated saving the lower forests for possible timber sales. A powerful and key amendment to the Wilderness Act by Wayne Aspinall, a Colorado congressman, gave Congress and not federal land agencies the ability to propose, debate, and vote on new wilderness designations.

After exhausting debates, public meetings and with even a request by the Forest Service to veto, President Ford signed the Alpine Lakes Area Management Act into law on the afternoon of July 12, 1976, reportedly saying “anywhere so beautiful should be preserved.” Following this designation four properties in the Alpine Lakes Area were listed in the National Register of Historic Places: Stevens Pass Historic District, Salmon La Sac Guard Station, the Blewett Arrastra and the townsite of Liberty.