Steve McLaughlin - Steve McLaughlin - Commissioner of Public Lands Candidacy Statement lyrics

Elected Experience: None Other Professional Experience: Commander, U.S. Navy (retired) I honorably served 25 years; Incident Command System Instructor (10 years) I've trained nearly 1000 firefighters and public safety personnel in incident management; Security Systems Program Manager (10 years); Education: B.S. University of Oregon Health and Biology; PSC Royal Naval College; M.A. (with distinction) U.S. Naval War College Community Service: Rotary Club of Wenatchee; Liberty Disaster Relief Services (Executive Director) Navy League of the United States; American Alpine Club (10 years); Relief and reconstruction drives for victims of Oso landslide and Eastern WA fires.Chairman, Operation Steadfast Veteran's Suicide Prevention; Statement: Washington suffered catastrophic, record setting wildfire seasons. Too many communities have been disrupted and lives, homes, livestock, forests and wildlife were needlessly lost. Providing disaster relief in communities affected by the Eastern WA fires, and Oso landslide, I realized my experience as a retired Naval Officer and incident command instructor could serve the citizens of Washington State. We need to empower our communities in preparedness, work collaboratively to create an integrated strategy among jurisdictions, and use common sense deploying local resources to reduce the risk of repeating the catastrophic fires of the past. Careful management of our state's 3 million acres of trust lands, and revenue that our forests, farms, and waters provide for school construction is an important constitutional mandate. More than half of DNR land is permanently conserved for protecting endangered species, salmon habitat and recreation. The remaining working forests must provide a steady stream of revenue for our schools and protect jobs in rural communities. The Department of Natural Resources needs positive leadership. I will draw upon my years of executive leadership of large, diverse organizations and lead DNR as a “servant leader.” The staff of DNR and the citizens of Washington deserve the best.