My Priorities as Commissioner of Public Lands
Restoring fire-resilient landscapes and building fire prepared communities
As commissioner, I will use the leadership experience I’ve gained to help lead our state beyond responding to the wildfire crisis, to getting ahead of it. I’ll do this by continuing our progress improving wildfire response, but importantly, by accelerating our efforts to restore healthy forests and sagelands that are naturally fire-resilient and investing in communities to become better protected from wildfire.
Currently, I serve as the Commissioner of Public Lands’ Wildland Fire and Forest Resilience Liaison, as well as lead the state’s Wildland Fire Advisory Committee and represent the DNR on the state’s Shrubsteppe Restoration and Resilience Initiative. I have the experience to lead our state in getting ahead of the wildfire crisis.
Managing our forests for values over volumes
As commissioner, I will direct the DNR to manage state lands to achieve healthier, more productive, and wildfire-resilient forests.
We can manage public forests to ensure their legacy for decades to come, while supporting our public schools and economy. As commissioner, I will manage state forests to achieve both. This starts with valuing forests for all the benefits they provide, setting management goals for providing these benefits, and implementing progressive forest practices that focus on producing value from forest management over timber volume.
By increasing the DNR’s ability to directly manage forest harvest operations we can protect sensitive habitat and restore our forests’ ability to withstand wildfire and provide vital habitat, while providing a sustainable supply of logs to timber mills. Direct management by DNR of state forests will also increase our ability to secure the greatest value for the timber we do harvest for state trust beneficiaries – our public schools.
As an ecologist and forester, I have the practical experience to lead this change.
Leading the state through a changing climate
As our summers grow hotter and drier and our precipitation patterns shift, we must manage our state lands to reduce the threat of wildfire, maintain our water supplies, and ensure that our rivers continue to provide the habitat our fish and wildlife will need to adapt.
Over the last decade at DNR, we have developed plans to adapt our natural resource management to a changing environment. As commissioner, I will direct the DNR to accelerate the implementation of these plans, ensuring that we continue to adapt to a changing climate and develop practical solutions to environmental changes as we encounter them.
I will also lead the DNR in doing our part to combat climate change, while seizing opportunities to maximize revenues for state trusts and build our economy.
We can achieve these things by managing the carbon-storage potential of public lands; the water-conservation potential of our forests; and habitat quality and diversity on those lands.
Managing state lands to support economies, particularly rural ones
State lands should support local economies, particularly those with state lands in their back yards. The management of those lands should also maximize benefits to state trusts. As commissioner, I will direct the DNR’s management of our state lands to ensure we achieve this.
We’ll focus on a double bottom line, benefiting local economies with state lands in their back yards, supporting local industries adding value manufacturing natural resources, and prioritize local work forces to do the work needed on state lands.
I will support the development of this type of innovation and ensure state lands provide consistent supplies of natural resources to companies who add value to those raw natural resources to support their investments in the infrastructure and jobs needed to add value to them.
Ensuring all Washingtonians benefit equitably from public lands
The Commissioner of Public Lands is responsible for ensuring the benefits of our public lands flow equitably to all residents of our state. It is also the commissioner’s responsibility to direct the DNR to meet the needs of all residents.
Furthermore, the commissioner must lead the DNR in meeting its legal and ethical obligations to the Sovereign Tribal Nations of Washington.
This will be a priority for me as your commissioner, which starts with listening to residents, especially those who have been underserved. I will direct the DNR to adapt its work to ensure the needs of those residents are met, by including their perspectives in advising and leading the development of DNR programs. Equity will be the standard in our ranks and in our service to the residents of our state, and as your commissioner, I pledge to uphold this principle in every decision I make.