*CLICK HERE FOR HIGHER REZ VERSION OF MAP*

Coalition of local sportsmen release map, photos calling on Congress, White House to pass Wild Olympics Act to protect hunting, angling & salmon streams for our future—instead of stripping roadless forest protections from key trophy fishing headwaters in Washington State

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 8th, 2025

QUILCENE, WA—September 8th, 2025: Today, Sportsmen for Wild Olympics released a new map with photos illustrating the devastating impacts that developing key roadless backcountry public lands on Olympic National Forest could have on critical headwaters of prime trophy fishing rivers and public access on the Olympic Peninsula. The group is calling on Congress to pass the Wild Olympics Act as a proactive solution to permanently protect these lands.

“This map tells Congress & the Administration: protect the Olympic Peninsula’s public lands—don’t privatize or develop them,” said Ashley Nichole Lewis, a Quinault Indian Nation fishing guide member of Sportsmen for Wild Olympics. “It gives our fellow sportsmen & women something to fight for, not just against—a lasting solution to threats we are confronting right now.”

The urgency comes as the Trump Administration announced a shortened comment period ending September 19th on their plans to rescind the Roadless Rule in order to log & develop sensitive spawning habitat on public lands, a key federal safeguard for undeveloped backcountry areas across national forests, including Olympic National Forest. The new map with photos highlights & names the critical ancient forest roadless headwaters & salmon streams on Olympic National Forest that are now threatened by the Trump Administration’s plan to lift protections for these backcountry public lands prized by Olympic Peninsula sportsmen for the clean water, critical habitat & access they provide.

What is the Roadless Rule?

The Roadless Rule, established in 2001, protects over 59 Million Acres nationwide of the last remaining undeveloped areas of national forests from new road construction & logging. These “roadless” areas are often rugged backcountry landscapes that provide crucial habitat for fish & wildlife, protect water quality, and offer remote hunting and angling opportunities. Removing these protections opens the door to industrial development in some of the last remaining intact, healthy forest lands in the country.

“Rescinding the Roadless Rule is yet another attempt to hand over our essential public resources to special interests—at the expense of salmon, clean water, and future generations,” Lewis said.

The coalition—comprising thousands of local and regional hunters and anglers, and over 30 leading sportsmen organizations—has already punched well above their weight earlier this year playing an outsized role in the national backlash opposing the unprecedented threats to public lands coming from both Congress and the Administration. Lewis says these threats highlight exactly why the group supports the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, recently reintroduced by Senator Patty Murray and Representative Emily Randall.

“The different public land sale efforts in Congress & the new plan to strip protections from 59 million acres of core forest headwaters nationwide—including lands on the Peninsula—show that they will use any tactic to privatize or exploit our public lands,” Lewis said. “This map shows what that would actually look like. Congress & the White House must reverse course and pass Wild Olympics to permanently protect these critical salmon streams instead.”

The Wild Olympics Act, developed with years of local input, would enhance hunting and fishing access while permanently protecting some of the last, best intact salmon-spawning habitat left in the Lower 48. Importantly, it would not close existing roads or cost timber jobs. It has broad local support with over 800 local endorsements.

The new map & photos show how the Wild Olympics proposal would protect key areas such as South Quinault Ridge, Moonlight Dome, and other core ancient forest headwaters & rivers vital for hunting & fishing on the Peninsula —areas the Administration now plans to open for logging by rescinding the Roadless Rule.

(The steep forested slopes of the Moonlight Dome Roadless Area forms the critical headwaters for both the East and West Forks of the Humptulips River (seen ok the left), one of the top ten Trophy Fishing Rivers in Washington State).

The map also reveals that 300,000 acres of Olympic National Forest have been identified as eligible for sale under different plans by the Administration and some members of Congress during earlier drafts of the budget bill passed earlier this year. While the land sale provision was struck from the budget, proponents continue to push this idea forward.

The unprecedented threats to public lands recently sparked Senator Murray to throw down the gauntlet in the Senate, announcing she will block any public lands legislative package that comes out of Utah Senator Mike Lee’s Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee unless it includes her Wild Olympics bill, a move that galvanized local supporters to pull out all the stops to get it done this Congress.

Lewis hopes the map inspires more hunters and anglers to join the thousands who have already signed their petition.

“The outdoor community is powerful. Our fishing & hunting guides are pillars of this community. Let’s use that collective power to ensure a single pen stroke can never take our public lands away. Let’s pass the Wild Olympics Act.”

HOW TO FIGHT BACK. 

1) Sign the WildOlympics.org/wild-olympics-petition/ telling Congress ancient temperate rainforests of the #WildOlympics aren’t for sale & to permanently protect Olympic Peninsula #publiclands & rivers against travesties like this in the future. 

2) Those who can afford it PLEASE WildOlympics.org/DONATE to fuel our fight. We helped defeat this four years ago. Help us defeat it again & pass the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild & Scenic Rivers Act to permanently protect ancient forests & salmon streams once & for all. 

3) (NOTE: COMMENT PERIOD ENDED SEPTEMBER 19th) Submit a Comment at The Link. Comment Period Ends Sept 19th (COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED)

For more information, including a rolling list of articles from sportsmen outlets covering the threats to public lands, visit www.SportsmenForWildOlympics.org/threats/

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TESTIMONIALS from Sportsmen For Wild Olympics Members On The Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild & Scenic Rivers Act: 

CASEY WEIGEL: WATERS WEST GUIDE SERVICE, ELMA, WA

"I support the Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild & Scenic Rivers Act because our rivers & our salmon are our lifeblood &, without them, businesses like ours, the local jobs they support, & the dollars they bring into our local economy would dry up. The Wild Olympics proposal would simply make the current safeguards protecting our rivers on Olympic National Forest permanent. That's all it does. It doesn't change access or cost timber jobs. And if it did, I wouldn't support it, because my family works in the timber industry. There are many challenges facing our rivers and salmon, with lots of debate and millions of dollars spent trying to help restore clean water and habitat downstream. But one basic, simple piece of the foundation we can put in place now that won't cost any of us anything, is to permanently protect the healthy habitat on the federal lands upstream against any misguided attempts to develop them in the future. That's why I am a proud supporter of the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. For Our Future."

OLYMPIC PENINSULA FLYFISHING GUIDE BOB TRIGGS, PORT TOWNSEND.

"We must not lose this unique opportunity to conserve and protect the headwaters and watershed forests that are vital to our wild fish, birds and wildlife here. It is far simpler and less expensive to conserve the wilderness habitat that we have, rather than to attempt to restore these places later. Some wild places are worth more than money."

AARON O'LEARY: ANGLER'S OBSESSION GUIDE SERVICE, FORKS

"Supporting Wild Olympics will help preserve the salmon and steelhead fishing on the Olympic Peninsula for future generations."

CAPT. DAVE DREWRY: PENINSULA SPORTSMAN GUIDE & OUTFITTING SERVICE, PORT TOWNSEND "This is a good cause to support the headwaters of some truly wild local rivers"

DAVE BAILEY: GREYWOLF FLY FISHING CLUB, GARDINER

"People often ask, are these public lands & salmon streams really threatened. Sadly, the answer is yes. There is an unprecedented avalanche of attacks on our public lands on ands & waters underway right now, and the full, statutory safeguards in the Wild Ilympics Act are the only way to truly permanently protect salmon streams for our future."  
 

ROY MORRIS: ABLE GUIDE SERVICE, SEKIU

"Wild Olympics will protect & enhance hunting & fishing & sportsmen access for our future without closing any roads" 

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Sportsmen For Wild Olympics Members Include:

Waters West Guide Service (Montesano)

Bad Ash Outdoors (Tahola)

Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association

Northwest Guides & Anglers Association

The Washington Wildlife Federation,

Izaak Walton League (Gr. Seattle Chapter) Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, (Washington Chapter)

Association of Northwest Steelheaders,

The Gray Wolf Fly Fishing Club (Sequim)

SAGE Fly Rods

Doug Rose Fly Fishing (at request of family)

Bad Ash Fishing (Tahola)

Washington Council of Trout Unlimited

Little Stone Fly Fisher (Port Townsend)

Johnson Guide Service (Sequim)

Olympic Peninsula Skagit Tactics (Forks)

Able Guide Service (Seiku)

Mike Z’s Guide Service (Forks)

Brazda’s Fly Fishing

Angler’s Obsession (Forks)

Sea Run Pursuits

Peninsula Sportsman Guide & Outfitting Service (Port Townsend)

Waters West Fly Fishing Outfitters (Port Angeles)

The Wild Steelhead Coalition

Piscatorial Pursuits (Forks)

Able Guide Service (Sekiu)

LimbSaver

Oly Women On The Fly

WA Council of Fly Fishers International

Puget Sound Fly Fishers

Coastal Cutthroat Coalition