Members of Washington's congressional delegation are making another attempt to expand the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in the Cascades.

Republican Rep. Dave Reichert and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray reintroduced bills Thursday to expand the wilderness area by about 22,000 acres and to designate parts of the Pratt River and the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River as wild and scenic.

The bill’s first stop in the legislative process will be the House Natural Resource Committee which is chaired by Central Washington’s Congressman Doc Hastings. Although expanding the Alpine Lakes Wilderness has received wide bi-partisan support from Washington’s Congressional delegation in the past, Hastings has historically viewed such expansions as Federal land grabs:"CLICK HERE" for Audio

Congressman Reichert and other members of the delegation have introduced similar measures in recent years, but the bills haven’t been able to pass both the House and Senate.