Sorry everyone I need to rant about this. I've been wheeling in these woods for the past 12 years and I'm really pissed.

This totally sucks for the off road community.
The "Wild Sky Wilderness" as they're so lovingly calling it has always been a rough barren area frequented by hunters and 4x4 enthusists. The hikers go up to the alpine lakes region just a few miles up the road. The Pacific Crest Trail is 12 miles further. Heck, there's about a thousand hiking trails up in Snoqualmie that actually go somewhere.
Nobody wants to hike 20 miles to see a barren mountain top with some old crappy logging equipment left behind.

Bush signed the bill protecting it from logging. Already protected as it's National Forest land not private.
Protecting it from "off-road vehicles". The same vehicles that private citizens like myself use to cut up felled trees and keep the roads open thank you.
And protecting salmon from logging run off.
Uh, what about the 1,200 acres they logged off in 2008 right up to the edge of the Snoqualmie River edge? Yes this new "pristine wilderness" is surrounded by tree farms that run into the North fork of the Snoqualmie River.
Damn river is running red with silt right now.

Well, thanks alot. Now nobody can go up there.All the gates are going in at this very moment and it's a hell of a long hike (10-20 miles on gravel roads) to get anywhere remotely close to the mountains.

With zero funds availabe for the forest service to maintain the soon to be gated roads this will just be another huge forest fire waiting to happen. Oh yeah, any slip and fall hiker or mountain biker will need to airlifted out now too.

I've pulled people out of the ditch, helped hikers find thier way back to the trailhead and certainly done my fair share of hauling trash out. No road, trash stays.

I don't think they realize it was the hunters and 4x4 groups that kept the roads up there open. All the roads around Mt.Rainier except 1 are still closed from the flood two years ago.

If a big forest fire happens (and they do every summer) there will be no way for crews to get in. They won't drop in hotshots, they won't fly big water buffalo planes over. It will just burn like hell until it's all flat and gone.

Guess we'll head up this weekend for one last drive to the top of the monutain. It'll probobly be that last time anyone goes up there.

Wow, this just got even worse. It's already closed.

Just found out this bill closes the entire 106,000 acre area to ALL mountain biking as well. Hike in only and dogs off leash are a $500 fine. The gate just outside of North Bend WA Forest Rd 63 is now locked to the public at the Lennox Creek crossing. The first 2 miles are steep grade gravel with lots of washboard. The next 10 miles are freshly clear cut private tree farms so not much to look at.
There is no parking lot. About 6 cars can fit on the side of the road. If you block the gate they tow you.

Apparantly handicapped US citizens aren't allowed access the Snoqualmie National Forest anymore.

Reiter Pit ORV Park also falls within it's vast border so go there now if you'd like to see it before they lock it up.

Might as well sell the dirt bikes, there's nowhere left to ride within 2 hours of home. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />

You just found your solution. Sounds like discrimination.

You need help, maybe challenge it in court?

While I agree with the general details of this post, there are some specific details that are wrong. First, the Reiter area has never been an official ORV park. It is DNR land where offroading is allowed.

The only portion of the Reiter area that falls in the Wild Sky Wilderness area is that portion of the Lake Isabelle Trail beyond the bridge.

The National Forest and BLM are currently planning to close off about half or so of the roads in all or most NF and (I think) BLM lands starting this summer.

So, it's going to get much, much, much worse. I depend on these roads for my historical research and I've already been cut off from numerous sites that I was able to visit, study and record only a few years ago.

So, I completely understand the frustration. What terrifies me is this was all done under the last "conservative" administration we are going to see for a while. By this time next year, we're going to still have a Democrat Congress and a liberal President, regardless of which party get elected, so I'm guessing this is going to get much worse.

With the global warming craze and anti-vehicle craze really heating up and only expected to get worse, as gas prices increase, I have a feeling that it won't be long before the only roads available for access are the direct through major roads and that's it.

I guess the bottom line is that recreatationlists just don't have the political power or at least were unable to harness it compared the enviros. Add the fact that logging, mining and timber land companies love having the forests and public lands locked up as it jeapordizes their interest much less. Their equipment doesn't get destroyed and there's less scrutiny on what they are doing when the public has to hike 20 miles to see the site.

This may not apply to wilderness, but wilderness is much about trading one plot of land for another. The enviros, business and government get together and agree to lock up a chunk of land that logging and mining have little interest in, in exchange for another plot of land that they do, which is why seemingly unwilderness areas are being locked up right now.

But anyway....I'm sorry to hear about this. I'm sure there are a number of sites up there that I was planning to visit in the near future that are now off my research list. Along with many others. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

One more thing. I'm also finding out that any roads that are near any waterways or streams will most likely be closed in the future. Streams and waterways are becoming a huge environmental priority now and a lot of logging and forest roads used to follow creeks and streams, but the government has decided, at the behest of environmentalists that roads next to streams cause harmful runoff, so they are closing them off on a regular basis. I'm running into this in my otherwise, fairly open state forest lands.

The next step and what will eventually kill off pretty much all access is that the enviros don't like fills or culverts where roads cross streams and want all of these removed. Bridges are too expensive, so in the end, the only roads that will likely remain are those that have bridges, which are usually the main thoroughfairs.

Another practice becoming more popular is building roads to access a stand of trees and then removing that road when they're done logging.

It's gonna get ugly in the next few years.