Washington has three new Fish and Wildlife commissioners | Wire

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee appointed a few new users to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Fee on Monday, Jan. 24, which includes two men and women from the jap side of the Cascade Mountain Array.

Melanie Rowland, of Twisp, John Lehmkuhl, of Wenatchee, and Timothy Ragen, of Skagit County, will be part of the 9-member panel that has been inclined to heated plan disputes above the past 12 months.

Lehmkuhl, a retired study biologist for the U.S. Forest Company, who has examined a extensive array of wildlife species from birds and compact mammals to huge video game animals like deer and elk, fills a seat that by statute is reserved for a resident of eastern Washington.

In accordance to qualifications info provided by Inslee’s push crew, Lehmkuhl is a lifelong hunter and angler who believes Washington desires a new fish and wildlife funding regime.

He enjoys riding horses and serves on the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Range Advisory Council.

For the duration of his specialist career, his investigation integrated wildlife administration with management of dry forests forms identified on the eastern facet of the state.

The seat he will occupy experienced been vacant for a lot more than a yr.

Rowland is a retired lawyer who worked for the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and specialized in conservation of threatened and endangered species this kind of as salmon, steelhead and southern resident killer whales.

She has formerly labored for the Wilderness Culture, taught legislation at the University of Washington and served on boards for the Seattle Audubon Modern society, Washington Environmental Council and the Pacific Biodiversity Council.

She is a birder and participates in a vast range of other out of doors routines these kinds of as cross-state snowboarding and sea kayaking.

Rowland’s “at large” seat is not reserved for a certain geographic location. It was formerly held by Fred Koontz who resigned late past yr.

Ragen is a marine mammal specialist. He retired in 2013 as the executive director of the U.S. Marine Mammal Fee.

Through his profession he worked on jobs to recuperate Steller sea lions and Hawaiian monk seals.

After he retired, Ragen continued to do the job on marine mammal concerns like a project to guard salmon operates diminished by predation from California and Steller sea lions.

He thinks solving hard conservation and wildlife management problems requires time and collaboration.

Ragen replaces fee chairman Larry Carpenter, whose phrase expired extra than a calendar year in the past. Carpenter agreed to continue on the panel right until a alternative was named.

With the new appointments, Inslee has a opportunity to remake the board that has observed plan clashes in the latest months.

Flash details have included fights around the 2022 spring black bear looking period and the potential that mountain lion harvest may be enhanced to help the battling Blue Mountain Elk Herds.

Inslee’s appointment of Koontz, of Duvall, and Lorna Smith, of Discovery Bay, very last yr drew protests from hunters and anglers who felt they have been hostile to hunting and fishing.

Furthermore, some conservation companies have been important of equally the department and the fee for its procedures on massive carnivores.

Jay Holzmiller, a rancher, logger and former member of the fee from Anatone, stated listening and a willingness to have interaction are significant traits for commissioners.

“The biggest thing is if they will be open minded,” he reported. “You are a person of 9, so you have to develop relationships.”

Chris Bachman, of the Kettle Vary Conservation Team, stated he is common with both of those Lehmkuhl and Ragen.

He likes that Lehmkuhl is a hunter and angler with knowledge in conservation science and said Ragen’s maritime mammal experience is a plus.