PORT ANGELES — Jim McEntire, one of three Clallam County commissioners, has been appointed to serve on the state Board of Natural Resources.
The Washington State Association of Counties selected McEntire over Pacific County Commissioner Frank Wolfe to represent 21 counties with state Forest Practices Board lands on the panel.
The panel sets policies that guide how the state Department of Natural Resources manages its lands and resources.
“I’m greatly honored to be elected to this board and look forward to representing a significant number of our state’s counties,” McEntire said.
McEntire was elected in 2011 to represent the county’s eastern District 1.
He is a retired Coast Guard captain and a former Port of Port Angeles commissioner.
McEntire applied for the same seat on the Natural Resources board in 2012, when timber counties selected Lewis County Commissioner Lee Grose to fill a vacancy.
Term begins January
McEntire’s open-ended term begins in January, when Grose’s term in office ends.
Members of the Board of Natural Resources meet in Olympia on the first Tuesday of each month except August.
By statute, other members of the board are the commissioner of public lands, the governor or a governor’s designee, superintendent of public instruction, director of the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, and the dean of the Washington State University College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences.
“Congratulations,” Clallam County Commissioner Mike Chapman told McEntire in Tuesday’s board meeting.
“I’d say congratulations, too,” Commissioner Mike Doherty added.
“I’m a little concerned having a climate denier on a major state policy board dealing with timberlands and the coastal marine resources, but it is an honor for the county to have a spokesperson on that board,” Doherty said.
“So it’s kind of a mixed issue for me.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
