Misplaced Pages

#220779

48-530: The route was first conceived by Ron Strickland in 1970. Between 1970 and 1976, extensive fieldwork was performed by Strickland and others, including early supporters along the PNT corridor who lent extensive knowledge of local trail systems to the effort. In that time, the Pacific Northwest Trail was cobbled together using preexisting trails and Forest Service roads. In 1977, Strickland founded

96-479: A Preserve America program, a Save America's Treasures Program, and a Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, all to be carried out by the National Park Service . New National Park System components would include: Title VIII designates ten new National Heritage Areas at the cost of $ 103.5 million: Title IX authorizes three new studies to examine new reclamation projects under the jurisdiction of

144-458: A cost of $ 64 million per year through the year 2018. It furthermore authorizes groundwater surveys in New Mexico, also by the U.S. Geological Survey . Title XII creates five new oceanic observation, research, and exploration programs at a cost of $ 2.6 billion, including programs for undersea research, undersea and coastal mapping, acidification research, and ocean conservation. One provision,

192-551: A new bill which incorporated 159 bills that had been considered by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources during the 110th Congress and, in some cases, earlier Congresses. Despite vehement opposition from Coburn and some other Republicans, the Senate passed a cloture motion on January 11 by a vote of 66–12 and then passed the bill on January 15 by a vote of 73–21, with four members not voting. The bill

240-412: A width averaging 1,000 feet and from $ 39 million to $ 60 million for a width averaging 500 feet) in comparison with the benefits which would result; and that there would be significant adverse environmental impacts on the grizzly bear and on fragile and frequently over-utilized high elevation areas. Despite the report's determination, in 1983, Ron Strickland would hike the entire length of the PNT alongside

288-767: Is a land management law passed in the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 30, 2009. The bill designates millions of acres in the US as protected and establishes a National Landscape Conservation System . It includes funding for programs, studies and other activities by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture , and in some cases bars further geothermal leasing, oil and gas leasing, and new mining patents on certain stretches of protected land. On June 26, 2008, Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico introduced

336-463: Is a story of "unstinting devotion...Ron Strickland's tale fits the landscape through which he traveled: out of scale, and a bit bigger than life usually is.". He and his wife, author Christine W. Hartmann , live in Bedford, Massachusetts. Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 ( Pub. L.   111–11 (text) (PDF) , H.R. 146 )

384-771: Is an American conservationist , long distance trail developer, and author . He is the founder of the 1,200-mile (1,900 km) Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail (PNT) and of the proposed transcontinental Sea-to-Sea Route. He is the author of nine books including his 2011 memoir Pathfinder: Blazing a New Wilderness Trail in Modern America . Born Ronald Gibson Strickland in Providence, Rhode Island , Strickland attended Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware , and graduated with three degrees from Georgetown University . Strickland wrote his dissertation about

432-632: The Bureau of Reclamation . It also creates 15 new water and endangered fish projects in four states. Furthermore, Title IX puts some federal water reclamation facilities under local control and funds conservation efforts. Title X codifies the settlements of three water disputes in California, Nevada, and New Mexico, in an effort to resolve decades of litigation. Title XI reauthorizes the National Geologic Mapping Act of 1992 at

480-831: The Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act , would "establish a national integrated System of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes observing systems, comprised of Federal and non-Federal components coordinated at the national level by the National Ocean Research Leadership Council" in order to "support national defense, marine commerce, navigation safety, weather, climate, and marine forecasting, energy siting and production, economic development, ecosystem-based marine, coastal, and Great Lakes resource management, public safety, and public outreach training and education." Title XIII deals with miscellaneous bills, including one that funds

528-882: The National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii and another that increases the number of Assistant Energy Secretaries in the United States Department of Energy to eight. Title XIII also amends the Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act of 2000 and the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act. Title XIV, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, provides $ 105 million over five years for coordinated paralysis research by

SECTION 10

#1732773042221

576-1218: The National Wilderness Preservation System . Among these lands are: Title II establishes a National Landscape Conservation System , to include Bureau of Land Management -administered National Monuments , National Conservation Areas , Wilderness Study Areas , components of the National Trails System , components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System , and components of the National Wilderness Preservation System . Title II also designates four new National Conservation Areas ( Fort Stanton – Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area , Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area , Red Cliffs National Conservation Area in Washington County, Utah , and Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area ) and one new National Monument (the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument in

624-517: The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008 ( S. 3213 ). Although the bill had some support from both Democrats and Republicans , including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada , the Senate never voted on the measure due to threats by Senator Tom Coburn (R- Oklahoma ) to filibuster the bill. On January 7, 2009, Bingaman introduced the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 ( S. 22 ),

672-695: The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 on March 25 of that year, and the Pacific Northwest Trail became the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail with President Obama's signature on March 30, 2009. The Public Lands Omnibus Act of 2009 placed the trail under the management of the Department of Agriculture , with the United States Forest Service serving as the trail administrator. When Congress designated

720-661: The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail and the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail . Title VI creates a number of new United States Department of the Interior programs. One of these programs, the Wolf Livestock Loss Demonstration Project, gives states and Indian tribes federal grants to help livestock producers to reduce livestock loss due to predation by wolves in non-lethal ways, as well as for

768-571: The Pacific Northwest Trail Guide . In March 2009, Congress added the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail into the National Trails System where it is now a permanent part of America’s national heritage . Strickland’s most ambitious project has been his proposed Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean Sea-To-Sea Route. In 1996, he wrote that when completed it would provide a transcontinental framework for

816-834: The Pend Oreille River on the Metaline Falls Bridge , before continuing over Abercrombie Mountain and reaching the Columbia River , in the town of Northport . Next, the trail wends along the Kettle Crest, through Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and into the range lands and orchards of the Okanogan River Valley. From the city of Oroville, Washington , the PNT follows the Similkameen River to Palmer Lake, where

864-709: The Puget Sound area, and the Yaak Trail Club, who helped select and maintain the route through northwest Montana's Yaak Valley. In 2000, the Pacific Northwest Trail received its first federal designation, when the Clinton administration designated the trail as a National Millennium Trail . More federal recognition would come in the following years. In 2002, the North Cascades National Park / Ross Lake National Recreation Area segment

912-781: The Robledo Mountains of New Mexico ). It also transfers lands in Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Washington to federal control. Title III authorizes the United States Secretary of Agriculture to, through the Chief of the United States Forest Service , conduct studies in the interest of preserving open space in southern Colorado and deliver "an annual report on the wildland firefighter safety practices...including training programs and activities for wildland fire suppression, prescribed burning, and wildland fire use, during

960-910: The United States Treasury . However, each proposal's expenditures are limited to $ 4 million per year. Title V designates thousands of miles of new additions to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System . It also adds six trails to the National Trails System : the Arizona National Scenic Trail , the New England National Scenic Trail , the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail , the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail ,

1008-667: The 40th anniversary of the first five thru-hikes of the trail. The United States Forest Service announced the release of the Pacific Northwest Trail National Scenic Trail Comprehensive Plan which outlines a vision for the trail and provides guidance for its future management, protection, and use on December 12, 2023. Beginning at Chief Mountain Customs on the United States–Canada border in northwest Montana,

SECTION 20

#1732773042221

1056-623: The FACA Committee was not held until October 2015 and met three times, and was allowed to expire in 2016. Currently, the advisory council and interdisciplinary committees are inactive. Thus, at this point, the forest service is 12 years out of compliance with the law that requires that a comprehensive management plan should have been implemented within 2 years of 2009. In 2017, the Pacific Northwest Trail Association celebrated its 40th anniversary, as well as

1104-749: The PNT crosses the Moyie River Valley, winds its way through the forest lands, dikes, and farmlands of the Kootenai River Valley, up Parker Ridge to the Selkirk Crest, then down Lions Head and over Lookout Mountain to Upper Priest Lake . From there, the trail climbs toward the Washington state line. In Washington, the PNT enters Colville National Forest in the Salmo-Priest Wilderness , then crosses

1152-472: The PNTA's first cartographer, Ted Hitzroth. They used the information collected on their journey to develop the first full-length guidebook for the PNT, which was published in 1984. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the trail gained in popularity. Regional volunteer groups emerged to help the PNTA maintain and improve the PNT in their areas, including SWITMO (Skagit Whatcom Island Trail Maintenance Organization) in

1200-429: The Pacific Northwest Trail Association (PNTA), an organization responsible for education and information, maintenance, and advocacy for the PNT. That same year, the first five successful thru-hikes of the Pacific Northwest Trail were completed. Two of those hikers would later appear on the cover of Backpacker Magazine , in a 1979 issue that introduced the Pacific Northwest Trail to an international audience. Also in 1979,

1248-447: The Pacific Northwest Trail in 2009, they also mandated that the forest service produce a management plan within two years. This management plan is required to determine the carrying capacity of the trail, and include public oversight. A FACA Committee intended to assist in establishing the management plan was not established until 2015, already 4 years past the date that it was required by law to have been implemented. The first meeting of

1296-794: The Pacific Northwest Trail traverses the high mountains and valleys of Glacier National Park , where it shares mileage with the Continental Divide Trail . Then it enters Flathead National Forest , travels across the Flathead River into Polebridge, Montana , up the Whitefish Divide , into Kootenai National Forest , and through the Ten Lakes Wilderness Study Area on its way to the Idaho state line. In Idaho Panhandle National Forest ,

1344-543: The Pacific Ocean beach of Olympic National Park and designating it a unit of the National Trails System. The study, initiated in 1978, was conducted jointly by the National Park Service and U. S. Forest Service. Ideas were obtained from various individuals, groups, and agencies concerning possible locations for the trail, since no specific route was defined in the legislation authorizing the study. From

1392-593: The Senate, the bill was amended to include a majority of the text in S. 22. The Senate voted 73–21 for cloture and 77-20 to pass the bill. The House agreed to the Senate amendments, 285-140, on March 25. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on March 30, 2009, declaring one provision unconstitutional in his signing statement . Title I of the bill designates two million acres (8,000 km²) of wilderness in nine states ( California , Colorado , Idaho , Michigan , New Mexico , Oregon , Utah , Virginia , and West Virginia ) for protection through addition to

1440-521: The bill, while three Democrats voted against it: Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Jim Marshall of Georgia , and Collin Peterson of Minnesota . House Democrats could then have brought the bill back to the floor under regular procedure, which would have allowed Republicans to submit amendments to the bill. The bill, as voted on by the House, had been amended by Jason Altmire (D- Pennsylvania ), to prohibit

1488-496: The carrying out of ecological restoration treatments. The Chief, acting on behalf of the Secretary of Agriculture, then may select up to ten of these proposals, aided by a fifteen-member advisory board, to be funded in any given fiscal year. For each proposal selected, 50% of the expenditures of the execution and monitoring of ecological restoration treatments would be paid for by a Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund in

Pacific Northwest Trail - Misplaced Pages Continue

1536-646: The closing of the lands described in the bill to hunting and fishing , presumably to persuade sportsmen and hunters to vote for the bill. On March 3, 2009, the House of Representatives passed a bill under suspension of the rules, the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Battlefield Protection Act ( H.R. 146 ), 394-13. On March 12, one day after the House failed to pass the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, Reid announced that he would file cloture on H.R. 146. While in

1584-660: The first short guide for the PNT was published by Signpost Magazine, which would later become the Washington Trails Association . The guide consisted of two pages that described the route, and came unaccompanied by maps. In 1977, Congress authorized a study to determine the feasibility and desirability of constructing a Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail extending between the Continental Divide in Glacier National Park and

1632-456: The full Natural Resource Committee of the US Senate on September 11, 2008, after the committee heard testimony from representatives of the PNTA and federal land management agencies who testified that concerns raised in the feasibility study had been adequately addressed. Original cost estimates and concerns over environmental impacts were based primarily on the construction of a new trail across

1680-418: The hitherto disparate long distance trails of the National Trails System. In 2005, thru-hiker Andrew Skurka hiked it straight through from east to west in 11 months. Strickland’s awards include the $ 10,000 Chevron Conservation Award, the $ 50,000 American Land Conservation Award, the 2008 National Trails Symposium’s Lifetime Service Award, and the 2010 LL Bean Outdoor Heroes Award. The Pacific Northwest Trail

1728-547: The politics of the National Wilderness Preservation System . He developed an early passion for backpacking that led, in 1970, to his desire to develop an east-west hiking trail from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean . He incorporated the Pacific Northwest Trail Association in 1977, and was its executive director for twenty years. In 1984 and 2001 he published the first and second editions of

1776-703: The preceding calendar year." Title III also prohibits further oil and gas leasing, geothermal leasing, and mining patents in a stretch of the Bridger-Teton National Forest ; this provision was based on a bill being crafted by Senator Craig L. Thomas of Wyoming before his death. Title IV authorizes the Chief of the Forest Service to solicit (from regional foresters ) nominations of forest landscapes of at least 50,000 acres (200 km ), primarily consisting of national forest lands, which are in need of "active ecosystem restoration," for

1824-529: The purpose of compensating livestock producers for their loss of livestock due to predation by wolves. Another part of Title VI, the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act, was originally a Senate bill introduced in 2007 by Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii). This provision establishes stronger penalties than previously required for nonpermitted removal of scientifically significant fossils from federal lands. The provision

1872-441: The route ideas suggested, four alternatives were identified for analysis: (1) the most scenic route, (2) the least costly route, (3) the route having the minimum environmental impact, and (4) no trail. Based on an evaluation of the four alternatives, the study determined that a Pacific Northwest Trail would have the scenic and recreational qualities needed for designation as a National Scenic Trail, but concluded that its construction

1920-647: The seaside community of Port Townsend, Washington , and the confluence of three trails: the Larry Scott Trail, the Olympic Discovery Trail , and the Pacific Northwest Trail. The trails circumnavigate the northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula and Discovery Bay before going their separate directions, with the PNT turning southwest through Olympic National Forest , Buckhorn Wilderness and into Olympic National Park . As

1968-512: The three states. In the time since the feasibility study had been conducted however, the route that would become designated as the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail had been connected utilizing pre-existing infrastructure, resulting in a great reduction in cost, and minimized environmental impact. The committee-approved legislation was then inserted into the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act. Congress passed

Pacific Northwest Trail - Misplaced Pages Continue

2016-722: The trail leaves the park and travels along the Bogachiel River it finds its way through the northern end of the Hoh Rain Forest to the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Hoh River . There, the trail turns north and wends along the wilderness coast where it enters the Quileute Indian Reservation near the town of La Push , then continues north to its western terminus at Cape Alava . Ron Strickland Ron Strickland (born March 19, 1943)

2064-675: The trail travels through Loomis State Forest , and then begins its ascent into the Pasayten Wilderness , where the PNT shares tread with the Pacific Crest Trail . After traversing the Pasayten, the trail crosses Ross Lake National Recreation Area and North Cascades National Park . The trail exits the park via Hannegan Pass, and continues through the Mt. Baker Wilderness . From Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest ,

2112-420: The trail uses a mix of federal, state, and private timber lands to reach the shores of Puget Sound . Along the dikes and through the farmlands of Skagit County , the trail traverses Fidalgo Island , crosses the bridge at Deception Pass State Park and continues across Whidbey Island to the Washington State Ferry Terminal in Coupeville , Washington. After a thirty-minute ferry ride, the trail picks up in

2160-404: Was designated a National Recreation Trail . The Olympic National Park segment received this designation in 2003, and the Glacier National Park segment received the same designation in 2005. In 2008, Congressman Norm Dicks and Senator Maria Cantwell introduced Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail legislation to Congress. The marked up version of the legislation for the designation passed

2208-475: Was endorsed and strongly supported by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology , an international association of professional and amateur vertebrate paleontologists. In contrast, the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences, an association of commercial fossil dealers , opposed the measure. Title VII makes three additions to the National Park System and expands current National Park designations. It also authorizes an American Battlefield Protection Program,

2256-407: Was neither feasible nor desirable and recommended the "no trail" alternative. In arriving at this recommendation, the study found that little new recreation opportunity would be provided if a trail were constructed since extensive trail systems already exist throughout most of the study area; that the cost of land acquisition and construction would be excessive (from $ 64 million to $ 106 million based on

2304-458: Was then sent to the House of Representatives , where it was expected to pass by a wide margin. The bill was held at the desk instead of being sent to a committee. On March 11, 2009, the House considered the bill under suspension of the rules, meaning that a two-thirds vote would be required for passage. Those voting in favor of the bill (predominantly Democrats) fell two votes short of a two-thirds majority, 282-144. 34 Republicans voted in favor of

#220779