Commissioner thanks Herrera Beutler

To The Eagle:

Thank you, Jaime Herrera Beutler, for looking out for small, rural communities like Wahkiakum County. I cannot say enough about Jaime standing up for us on the endangered species issues such as the marbled murrelet. As a Wahkiakum County commissioner since 2001, I have been striving, along with my other board members, to keep Wahkiakum County solvent. As a county, we are losing approximately $1 million a year in revenue due to the endangered species act.

I sit on the DNR Encumbered Lands Group and the Solutions Table Task Force, set up by the DNR per request from our legislature. We are working diligently toward a plan to unite the economic and environmental ideas and concerns. We endeavor to find common ground and aid affected counties in solving revenue shortcomings. This is by no means an easy endeavor. I applaud Jaime for being proactive concerning this issue.

In examining the big picture, US Fish and Wildlife have turned this long-term conservation strategy into a land grab and not, as they claim, an earnest effort to compromise and save the marbled murrelet. We want to see that species survive and thrive--but let’s not ignore the needs of our communities or, equally as important, science.

Jaime, Wahkiakum County thanks you for speaking up for the welfare of our county and other small counties challenged with these issues. If we lose Jaime Herrera Beutler’s voice in Congress, all of Southwest Washington loses.

Dan L. Cothren

Wahkiakum County Commissioner