Op-Ed: Peter Goldmark for lands commissioner

Think globally, vote locally. When it comes to the challenge that is likely to define the 21st century, fighting climate change and ending our dependence on fossil fuels, we can take a step in the right direction by electing Peter Goldmark as commissioner of public lands.

Lands commissioner is a critical office for Washington's environmental future. As head of the Department of Natural Resources, the lands commissioner manages 5.6 million acres of public forests, farmlands and waters (including Puget Sound, rivers and lakes) as well as overseeing logging on more than 12 million acres of forest (that's about 25 percent of the land in Washington).

Washington Conservation Voters has endorsed Peter Goldmark for many reasons, one of the most exciting of which is his commitment to develop renewable energy and use forests to help fight climate change.

Goldmark is well positioned to provide this leadership. He brings the conservation commitment of someone who has spent his life working and living on the land. In addition to working 35 years on his family's wheat and cattle ranch, Goldmark has served as a WSU regent, state agriculture department director and rural school board member.

The incumbent's performance gives little sense of the leadership that the lands commissioner can provide on clean energy and fighting climate change. We are energized by the prospect of Goldmark as lands commissioner for the change he would bring.

Imagine a lands commissioner who aggressively promotes state lands as places to produce renewable energy such as wind and solar power, and invests in the coming options for producing wave and tidal power on state aquatic lands.

Imagine a commissioner whom you can trust to be at the forefront of renewable power development, who will also ensure that such development is done with strong safeguards for protecting critical environmental values.

Imagine a lands commissioner who will commit the full resources of the state to increasing carbon storage in the state's forests -- taking advantage of the tremendous productivity of Washington's wood basket to provide additional revenues for the state and for timber owners, while helping to reduce global warming pollution. Goldmark is serious about delivering real climate gains that will have real market value.

State leadership in renewable energy and using our forests to help fight climate change will also provide a boost for the innovative Washington businesses and jobs that will grow up around these industries. In that way, sound management of our state lands can help prime the pump for economic development and job creation statewide.

In these uncertain times, our public land is an asset whose value we can trust. The next several years is a critical window for turning the corner on climate change and fossil fuel dependence, and our public lands can make a real contribution to solutions. We need a lands commissioner who will lead in pursuing these solutions, with integrity, in the public interest. Peter Goldmark will provide that leadership.