The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
Although Americans — by voting for Donald Trump — recently demonstrated that they are not particularly concerned about climate change, the issue will not disappear.
In the West, that means wildfires increasing in frequency and scope. In the Midwest, it means floods and droughts impacting which crops can be grown and the size of the harvest. In the South, it means hurricanes that require communities to be rebuilt only to be threatened again.
But as Democrats reassess their strategy in the wake of a robust rebuke from voters, they should take a close look at how they talk about climate change. Sky-is-falling rhetoric does not resonate with voters — that is not a commentary on whether or not it should — and Republicans have convinced voters that Democrats are beholden to the most extreme factions of their party.
At least that is one analysis, and it was reinforced by a recent interview with Hilary Franz.
Franz is Washington’s outgoing commissioner of public lands. She has headed the Department of Natural Resources for eight years and unsuccessfully ran for Congress in the 6th District this year. She stopped by Vancouver this week, wanting to talk about her department’s work and what Washington can do to protect public lands and make them work for the people of the state.
In the process, she was asked about a proposal put forth by Dave Upthegrove, who has been elected as her successor. In the Voters’ Pamphlet, Upthegrove wrote: “As Lands Commissioner I’ll bring bold new ideas to the table. I have a plan to protect Washington’s 77,000 acres of critical legacy forests …”
Those forests, under the Habitat Conservation Plan, are scheduled to be harvested. And while Upthegrove’s proposal likely caught the eye of the most ardent conservationists, a discussion with Franz reveals the kind of nuance that typically gets lost when elections are fueled by sound bites.
“That would remove revenue from common schools,” Franz said. “Those trees are set to be harvested in the next decade.”
Franz said harvesting can be the responsible course of action, both environmentally and economically. When trees are not cut locally, mills either close or must import timber, and the trees that are cut down get sent by truck and rail and ship to far-away mills.
“Unless we stop building houses and using paper and making tables,” Franz said, “we need to cut down trees. If I just cared about the environment, the most sustainable thing we can do is provide that timber right here in Washington. And when mills close, then private landowners sell out; they’re going to a different land use.”
(Franz and Upthegrove, by the way, are Democrats. Franz did not publicly support either candidate in the general election.)
All of this is just one aspect of the complex job of public lands commissioner — often described as the most important elected position in Washington that nobody understands. The DNR, after all, manages 3 million acres of state trust lands and 2.6 million acres of state-owned aquatic lands. Revenue from that management goes to 40-some trusts that support schools, libraries, fire districts and other junior taxing districts.
Franz has managed the department with an infectious energy for public relations and a passion for her mission. Most importantly, she has secured increased funding from the Legislature and implemented several initiatives that have reduced the impact of wildfires.
“In the last three years, 93 percent of wildfires in the state have been contained to less than 10 acres,” she boasts, pointing to quick-response efforts.
Those efforts have been successful, and they should receive continued support from the Legislature, rather than giving a false sense of security.
But the larger issue involves how we talk about climate change and how we can elect officials who demonstrate a broad understanding of the issues. There is a difference, after all, between protecting public lands and effectively managing them.
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