Our backyard wilderness is about to officially get bigger.
    The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act is expected to become law next week.
    The summit, at last, has been reached. The Act has been approved by Congress (Details on page A1) and is expected to be signed into law by President Barack Obama on Monday afternoon.

Talk about good news for the new president to take his mind off failing banks and rising al-Qaida threats.

Shouting from a mountaintop might just be in order — perhaps this summer — for the many people who have worked hard for years toward expanding designated Wilderness on and around Mount Hood.

The new legislation adds a total of 127,000 new acres of Wilderness to the existing 186,200 acres around Mount Hood. Another 80 miles of protection is also added to the Wild and Scenic Rivers system on nine waterways.

As Sen. Ron Wyden, one of the legislation’s most ardent supporters, put it, “It was a long and winding road to get this bill passed.”

Rep. Greg Walden, a Hood River resident and native son, deserves ample credit for this accomplishment, as does fellow Rep. Earl Blumenauer. The two legislators’ bipartisan backpack trip around the mountain in 2006, a fact-finding excursion with sunscreen and canteens, was a critical step toward forging some kind of expanded protection for the mountain and its crucial forest and watershed resources. It elevated understanding in many hearts and minds.

Then there are the citizen groups that diligently worked with the legislators to sustain a cause that, while feeling divisive at times, speaks to all our interests

Fortunately, the land swap between Mt. Hood Meadows and the U.S. Forest Service is in the bill — or at least the language that allows the trade to happen.

The exchange would mean Meadows trades 769 acres of its Cooper Spur holdings for 120 acres of national forest near Government Camp. The company wants to build condominiums in the already heavily populated area. Meadows has agreed to forgo any further development in the southern sector of Hood River County.

But there are miles to go before anyone rests on this issue. Or, as Meadows’ CEO Matthew Drake put it, there is plenty of “heavy-lifting” yet to happen.

Congratulations to all who contributed to passage of the Omnibus Act with its provisions for our mountain and rivers.

But to make this legislation truly work on the ground, where it has to, it’s time for the parties to put down backpacks or whatever baggage they may still carry, and see the details of the land trade through to reality.

The U.S. Forest Service has been given a 16-month timeline to complete the appraisal and land valuation process, but the Act also places plenty of other important resource work in their backpacks, without an accompanying “hike” in funds.

The federal government must do more to help USFS staff carry out their part of the remaining work. To do less would be like blazing a trail only partway to the long-sought summit.