At presstime, a bill passed by the House would make it illegal under federal law to log and build roads in over 125,000 acres of the Olympic National Forest in Washington State.
This land is already protected as federal land and due to a Forest Service rule, loggers are not allowed to use it and roads cannot be built.
The House’s recent legislation makes that rule a federal law, and prevents any future presidential administration from unilaterally changing it.
The House passed the protections as an attached amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress is required to pass as a budget bill. At the time of this writing, the Senate had not passed its version yet. If that passes, the 126,500 acres and 464 river miles in the Olympic National Forest will be designated as wilderness if President Donald Trump signs the piece of legislation.
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