Alpine Lakes Wilderness: 1 landscape, 50 years, lasting inspiration

Few landscapes have inspired such a strong sense of stewardship and joy in the outdoors as the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. So many people are to thank — including Washington’s Tribal nations, who have cared for this landscape for time immemorial — for their work to protect this place. (Maybe you are one of the people who has cared for this special area!)

This year marks a major milestone. Alpine Lakes Wilderness celebrates 50 years on July 12, the day that it was designated as wilderness five decades ago.

What we now call Alpine Lakes Wilderness has been cared for since time immemorial by Washington’s Tribes. Photo by Joe Marlow.

Protection

• What is wilderness?
• Wilderness areas have the highest level of land protection in the United States. To preserve their cultural, ecological and historical values, modern technology like roads and power tools are not allowed in wilderness areas. Wilderness areas exist within other types of federal land, so they can be within a national park, a national forest or on Bureau of Land Management land.

In the 1970s, then-Washington Governor Dan Evans took a book containing photographs of the alpine lakes to a meeting with President Ford. The images so captivated the president that, after a single meeting, he signed the legislation to protect the landscape as a wilderness area.

Alpine Lakes Protection Society, Sierra Club and other conservation organizations laid the groundwork for this monumental meeting by rallying people to travel to Washington, D.C., and to talk with elected officials about designating the alpine lakes area as wilderness to protect it from logging. These organizations shared the invitation to join their advocacy in D.C. through Signpost, the publication that later evolved into Washington Trails Association.

Today, WTA builds on the work of previous generations of hikers and our outdoor partners to defend our state’s wild and iconic places. Photo of Pratt River trail by trip reporter Criada.

"The creation of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness was a watershed event for both the larger public lands protection movement and the conservation of wildlands in Washington’s Central Cascades,” said Michael Pierson of Alpine Lakes Foundation. “The core wild areas of the Alpine Lakes were permanently protected, and processes were established that have helped add more lands to the wilderness over time to enhance the conservation and amenity values of the region.”

Expansion

In 2014, 7 years after Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Dave Reichert introduced the idea, Congress expanded the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. This expansion protected 22,000 acres in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Valley from encroaching development.

Alpine Lakes Protection Society, American Whitewater, Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, Middle Fork Outdoor Recreation Coalition, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Washington Wild, WTA and many other organizations helped move this wilderness expansion from proposal to protection.

WTA knew that the Middle Fork Valley is a special place, one where there are ample opportunities to get outside year-round, and where protections would help the health of important waterways like the Middle Fork Snoqualmie and Pratt rivers. Together, we kept up the push for this wilderness expansion until Congress acted.

Map courtesty CORE GIS

Stewardship

The nonprofit organizations, leaders in Congress and individuals like you who banded together to create the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and then expand it later, shows that it takes all of us to care for Washington’s outdoors.

Today, WTA continues to speak up for Alpine Lakes Wilderness and maintain trails in the area to keep the landscape, and the people seeking to enjoy it, safe. Right now, thanks to support from the Alpine Lakes Foundation and the Keta Legacy Foundation, a WTA crew is in the field improving the trail at Hatchery Creek. Keta Legacy Foundation provided the Norm Winn Conservation Grant, which the Alpine Lakes Foundation matched.

For two weeks this summer, a WTA crew is improving the Hatchery Creek trail, which leads to the Icicle Ridge area of Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Photo by Jessi Loerch.

“For more than 30 years, the Alpine Lakes Foundation has been dedicated to supporting the preservation, stewardship and enjoyment of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and surrounding lands, as well as educating the public about these lands in a variety of ways,” Michael said.

Thank you to everyone who has helped protect this special area — for your days doing volunteer trail work, your messages to elected officials and your donations to WTA and other outdoor organizations. Together, all of those actions add up to something bigger — something with the scale and beauty of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

The protection of Alpine Lakes Wilderness would have never happened without the actions of people like you. Photo by Ben Hawley.