This past primary election for Public Lands Commissioner was the closest in state electoral history. Dave Upthegrove received the second highest vote total by 49 votes after a mandatory hand recount. The stakes couldn’t be higher and the difference between Republican Jaime Herrera-Beutler and Dave Upthegrove couldn’t be more stark.
Herrera-Beutler’s took lots of timber money from Weyerhaeuser, Sierra Pacific, Western Forests Products, timber lobbyists (American Forest Resource Council), commercial real estate developers and investment firms. Her congressional record mirrored those same interests in which she voted to gut the Endangered Species Act, dilute both federal clean air and water standards and withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. The League of Conservation Voters included her in their “Dirty Dozen” of legislators with the worst environmental voting records in Congress.
Upthegrove’s campaign was funded by small donors, environmental groups and some unions. As four-term state legislator he worked assiduously to rehabilitate salmon habitat and restore Puget Sound. He proposes to protect school trust beneficiaries while not logging on the few remaining older mature and more fire-resilient forests as they sequester more carbon than monocultural tree farms. The tradeoff of timber sales for our children’s future is a false one that Big Timber promotes. A vote for Upthegrove and a “no” vote on Initiative 2117 is a vote for all of us and not just a few.
Peter Stedman
Port Angeles
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