King County Rural Forest Commission

The King County Rural Forest Commission is an advisory group of 13 volunteer members, appointed by the King County Executive, who represent a variety of rural forest interests and advise the County on policies and programs affecting rural forests.

Commissioners represent the diversity of rural forestry interests and geographic regions of rural King County, including: private rural forest landowners; advocates of non-timber values of forest land; affected Indian tribes; consumers or users of local forest products (e.g., mills, lumber suppliers, artisans, florist suppliers, and others); academic or professional foresters or forestry associations; rural cities (including Black Diamond, Carnation, Duvall, Enumclaw, North Bend, Skykomish, and Snoqualmie); and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

Commission members must have a working knowledge of King County forestry, a strong commitment to promote forestry in the rural area, the ability to work with differing viewpoints to find solutions to complex problems, and a willingness to commit the time. Commission members are asked to volunteer for a minimum term of three years. Duties include attending bi-monthly meetings on the third Thursday of every other month at the Preston Community Center (usually) and occasional subcommittee meetings. Inquiries from King County residents interested in serving on the Commission are welcome at any time.

Recognizing that conserving healthy forests is essential to protecting and restoring water and air quality, providing recreational opportunities and maintaining a viable forestry industry in King County, the Commission issued the report Actions Required for King County to Conserve Rural Forests in 2009.

Recruitment

The Rural Forest Commission is currently accepting applications through the end of November, 2020, for open positions. To apply for an appointment, please complete the basic application and either mail it to Wendy Sammarco at King County Water and Land Resources Division, 201 South Jackson Street, Suite 5600, Seattle, WA 98104, or email it as an attachment to Wendy at wsammarco@kingcounty.gov. If you have a resume, please include that with your application. If you are selected for an appointment to the Rural Forest Commission, you will also be asked to complete a King County Board of Ethics financial disclosure form. More information on applying for a King County commission can be found here. For questions about the Rural Forest Commission, contact Wendy at 206-263-6916 or wsammarco@kingcounty.gov.

Meetings

Due to meeting restrictions developed in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, the Rural Forest Commission is unable to meet in-person until further notice. We hope the situation changes soon and we can get back to doing important work for forest landowners and other residents of King County.

The Commission meets six times a year and meetings are open to the public. In 2021, regular meetings will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. via Zoom teleconference call on the following dates unless otherwise noted:

2021 Meeting Dates:

• January 21, 2021: via Zoom teleconference call. Please contact Wendy Sammarco for specific information.
• March 2021: TBD
• May 2021: TBD
• July 2021: TBD
• September 2021: TBD
• November 2021: TBD

Past Meeting Dates:

• January 16, 2020: Preston Community Center, 8625 310th Ave SE, Preston
• March 19, 2020: MEETING CANCELLED
• May 21, 2020: MEETING CANCELLED
• July 16, 2020: Video conference call (Zoom). Please contact Richard Martin for specific information. [Agenda - PDF]
• July 20, 2020: *SPECIAL MEETING, 11:00 - 11:30, video conference. Please contact Richard Martin for agenda and call-in information.*
• September 17, 2020: Video conference call (Zoom). Please contact Wendy Sammarco for specific information. [Agenda - PDF]
• November 19, 2020: South King County, location TBD

The Commission also has phone-in meetings tentatively scheduled from 9:00 - 10:00am on alternating months to address time-sensitive issues that cannot wait until the scheduled regular meeting. Call-in info: 206-263-8114, Conference ID 3235139#. Meetings are confirmed or cancelled at least a week prior to the scheduled call. 

2020 phone-in meeting dates (if needed): February 20, April 16, June 18, August 20, October 15, December 17.

For more information, please contact Wendy Sammarco at wsammarco@kingcounty.gov or 206-263-6916.

Past meeting minutes (Adobe Acrobat PDF format):

2020
January 16, 2020
July 16, 2020
July 20, 2020
September 17, 2020

2019
January 17, 2019
March 21, 2019
April 18, 2019
May 16, 2019
July 18, 2019
September 19, 2019
October 17, 2019

2018
January 18, 2018
March 15, 2018
May 17, 2018
July 19, 2018
September 20, 2018
November 15, 2018

Commission members and the forest interests they represent

Monica Paulson Priebe (Chair)
Academic forester

Amy LaBarge (Vice Chair)
Professional forester (forest ecologist)

Steven Mullen-Moses (Executive Committee Member)
Affected Tribes (Snoqualmie Tribe)

Wendy Davis (Executive Committee Member)
Forest landowner

Andy Chittick
Forest landowner and consumer or user of local forest products (forester/sawmill operator)

Grady Steere
Forest landowner (Campbell Global)

Li Hsi
Forest landowner

Mari Knutson
Forest landowner

Wyatt Golding
Advocate of non-timber values of forest land

Jeff Boyce
Professional forester and rural cities

Steve Horton
Forest landowner and consumer or user of local forest products

Laurie Benson
Washington State Department of Natural Resources

Brandy Reed (ex officio)
King Conservation District

Brendan Whyte (ex officio)
Washington State University Extension

Martie Schramm (ex officio)
USDA Forest Service
Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest

Commission Staff

Wendy Sammarco
King County Forestry Program

For questions about the Rural Forest Commission, please contact Wendy Sammarco, Forester, at wsammarco@kingcounty.gov or (206) 263-6916.

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