Doug Sutherland (American politician)

Early life

Born in Montana in 1937, Sutherland moved to Spokane, Washington as a young boy. His father was a union plasterer.

As a student at Central Washington University, Sutherland spent his summers fighting wildfires in the forests of Northern California and Oregon as a smokejumper. After graduating from Central Washington University with a Bachelor's Degree in History, Sutherland spent eleven years with the Boeing Company. In 1971, Sutherland purchased the Tacoma Tent and Awning Company, building it from four to thirty four employees over the next two decades. Having seen the impact government can have on small businesses and families, Sutherland became involved in local politics.

Career

From 1980 to 1981, Sutherland served on the Tacoma City Council. After just two years on the council, he was elected mayor of Tacoma, where he served from 1982-1989. As mayor of Tacoma, he completed the nation's first environmental community assessment with then United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director Bill Ruckelshaus. He also served as the Chair of the Puget Sound Air Quality Authority. During that time the PSAQA led Pierce, King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties into compliance with the Clean Air Act's new standards.

From 1989 to 1992, Sutherland served as the first City Manager for the city of SeaTac. He was responsible for the creation, staffing and development of municipal services for the newly formed city. He helped lead SeaTac through pre-incorporation operations to its establishment as a fully functioning city in February 1990.

In 1992, Sutherland was elected Pierce County Executive, a position he held until his election in 2000 as Commissioner of Public Lands. As Pierce County Executive he joined his Democratic counterparts in King and Snohomish counties to create the Tri-County Salmon Taskforce, addressing the cleanup of Puget Sound and finding ways to improve salmon habitat. The Puget Sound Action Team and the new Puget Sound Partnership are outgrowths of that effort.

Sutherland became Commissioner of Public Lands in 2000 and was re-elected in 2004.

In 2005, he was investigated for sexual harassment because of inappropriate touching and commenting to a younger female employee (who later resigned from the position.) Sutherland issued a formal apology to the employee. No further action was requested.

Doug Sutherland’s 2008 re-election campaign has been funded by contributions from a variety of sources. As of November 3, 2008 his campaign has received $571,716.62 from cash contributions and $602,131.08 from independent funding. The majority of the independent funding ($573,000) was provided from the Committee for Balanced Stewardship. The Committee for Balanced Stewardship is predominately funded by logging and mining companies. Major contributors include $100,000 from Weyerhaeuser; $75,000 from Rayonier; $50,000 from Glacier Northwest (the company currently strip mining and shipping from the Maury Island Aquatic Reserve); and $25,000 from Sierra Pacific. Some of the cash and in-kind contributions directly to Doug Sutherland's campaign are also associated with Taylor Shellfish (a company under investigation for illegally harvesting geoduck on DNR managed public state tidelands).

Commissioner of Public Lands

As Commissioner of Public Lands, Sutherland has the following responsibilities:

- Manages the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which administers a $625 million, two year budget.

- Chairs the Board of Natural Resources (BNR), which sets policy for the management of state trust lands.

- Oversees the largest fire department in the state, protecting 12,700,000 acres (51,000 km²) of non-federal land, including private, state-owned and tribal lands from wildfires.

- Chairs the state Forest Practices Board, which sets regulations concerning private timber harvests, forest road building, and other forest operations.[2]

Timber certification

Doug Sutherland believes that Washington's forests are its greatest natural resource and it is important that timber practices are done in an environmentally sustainable way. That is why all 2,100,000 acres (8,500 km²) of state trust forestlands are certified sustainable by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). The South Puget Sound Habitat Conservation Plan has also been certified sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). DNR is currently in the process of having all state trust forestlands prepared for FSC certification.

Conversion of forest land

Doug Sutherland believes that the responsible harvesting of timber on state lands provides an anchor for the forest industry statewide, providing an economic incentive to keep lands in forestry rather than converting. This is especially important for the family forest landowners who are frequently at the edges of urbanizing areas. The more difficult they find it to bring their timber to market, the more likely they are to sell their land for development. Timber from state lands helps create a sound infrastructure, allowing small landowners to keep their land forested. Healthy, working forests are the best impediment to conversion.

Wind power

Doug Sutherland has been a major proponent of expanding Washington's base of alternative energy. Initiative 937 mandated that 15% of all energy produced in Washington be renewable by 2020. In 2006, the two wind farms DNR is involved with produced 450 megawatts of electricity - enough to power over 150,000 homes. Along with the obvious environmental benefits, leasing state lands for wind farms helps diversify revenue sources to the state. This means the state earns revenue no matter what timber prices are, allowing decisions that are best for the long term of state trust lands, financially and environmentally.

Water quality

Many DNR lands and forests are adjacent to communities or are located in vital watersheds, which provide clean drinking water and recreation benefits to communities. Doug Sutherland believes that working forests provide the cleanest water of any land use in the state and keeping land as working forest will continue to preserve that water quality into the future. Washington's riparian protections are some of the toughest in North America, leaving a 150-foot (46 m) average buffer between streams and logging activity. Sutherland believes it is important that DNR not only manage the land to ensure clean drinking water, but that they focus on meeting the even higher standard required by fish and wildlife.