WASHINGTON - A Senate committee has approved a bill to create the Wild Sky Wilderness northeast of Seattle in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

It would be the first new wilderness area in Washington state in more than 20 years.

The bill sponsored by Congressman Rick Larsen and Senator Patty Murray would designate 167 square miles for the government's highest level of protection.

In the past, wilderness has consisted solely of old growth forest at higher elevations. Wild Sky protects low-elevation, old-growth forest and 25 miles of salmon streams while still making the land available and accessible for recreational use.

Today's vote by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee sends the bill to the full Senate, which has approved the Wild Sky proposal three times in recent years. The House approved the measure last month.

A Bush administration official has said the president will sign the bill.

There are approximately 2.5 million acres of federally designated and protected wilderness in Washington state.