PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Commissioner Bill Peach has been picked to represent timber counties on the state Board of Natural Resources, he announced Tuesday.
Peach, a retired forester from Forks, was chosen by commissioners in 22 timber counties to replace outgoing Clallam County Commissioner Jim McEntire on the six-member state board.
The influential Board of Natural Resources sets policies that guide how the state Department of Natural Resources manages its resources, including 92,500 acres of forest trust land in Clallam County.
Peach said he will “get right into the saddle” in his added role.
The Board of Natural Resources meets Jan. 5 and the first Tuesday of every month except August in Olympia.
In Tuesday’s board meeting, Peach thanked fellow Commissioners Mike Chapman and Jim McEntire for endorsing him over co-finalist Dennis Weber of Cowlitz County in a letter they signed Dec. 15.
“I appreciate personally you stepping forward,” McEntire told Peach.
“It’s a really, really important board for Clallam County to be represented on.”
Peach is the third Clallam County commissioner to serve on the Board of Natural Resources, Chapman said.
Each timber county had one vote for the county representative on the DNR board.
County boards could vote as a unified group or submit fractionalized votes as individual commissioners.
DNR officials referred all inquires about the Board of Natural Resources election to Laura Berg, state Association of Counties policy director.
Berg was on vacation Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. A county association staffer said no one was available to speak about the election.
Other members of the Board of Natural Resources are Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark; University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences Director Thomas DeLuca; state Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn; Ron Mittelhammer, dean of the Washington State University College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences; and J.T. Austin, Gov. Jay Inslee’s designee and policy adviser, according to DNR’s website.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
