PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Commissioner Bill Peach has been named the new vice chair of the state Board of Natural Resources.
Peach represents 21 timber counties on a board that adopts policies, approves major commodity sales and makes decisions about transactions of state lands managed by the Department of Natural Resources.
Peach was elected vice chair of the six-member panel in a special meeting Tuesday.
“I didn’t dodge the bullet well enough,” Peach joked in a subsequent county commissioners meeting.
Hilary Franz, who was elected to replace retired Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark last November, will chair the Board of Natural Resources.
She also will manage DNR and administer the agency’s $325 million annual budget.
DNR manages more than 5.6 million acres of state-owned forest, range, commercial, agricultural, conservation and aquatic lands.
Since 1970, DNR-managed trust lands have generated more than $8 billion for public schools, communities and other beneficiaries such as junior taxing districts, agency officials said.
The Board of Natural Resources holds its regular meetings on the first Tuesday of every month in Olympia.
Other board members are:
• Thomas DeLuca, director of the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences College of the Environment.
• Chris Reykdal, state superintendent of public instruction.
• Ron Mittelhammer, dean of the Washington State University College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences.
• J.T. Austin, policy advisory and designee for Gov. Jay Inslee.
Clallam County’s recent representation on the influential DNR board began in January 2015 when former Commissioner Jim McEntire was elected to the panel.
Peach became McEntire’s successor as the timber county representative in January 2016.
Peach will serve on the DNR board through Dec. 31, 2019, unless he leaves county office prior to that.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
