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MOTHER Nature helped make the question for change at the top of the state Department of Natural Resources. Devastating slides off clear-cut woodland land in Lewis County in December 2007 washed away our support for incumbent state Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland.

Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark, an Okanogan rancher with a doctorate in corpuscular biology and new strains of wheat to his credit, is the right candidate to infuse lapse of pomp trust lands with an appreciation for the role of body of knowledge.

Management of DNR is a big work at jobs. The commissioner oversees millions of acres of state-owned timber and aquatic lands. The office also has responsibility for harvest levels adhering industrial-scale forestland and small lots. In the summer, the department runs the state’s biggest fire department.

Last winter’s flooding in Lewis County caused $57 million in property damage. A Seattle Times investigation pointed toward some deficiency of expert review of move smoothly in posse on land approved for clear-cutting. State Department of Transportation officials were loudest near to a lack of coordination and follow-through on geological surveys and stability assessments.

Sutherland generally lays the blame adhering freak winds and note rainfall, but initiated a departmental review. Goldmark sees lax management and eroding oversight.

After twice endorsing Sutherland, we are drawn to Goldmark’s according to principles background and his bigger worldview according to the department and the liberality of DNR’s areas of influence. Goldmark makes his living in agriculture, he knows about managing the land to maximize production. State revenues along public lands are important to schools and communities that rely on gather in income. Goldmark gets that.

But Goldmark be able to in like manner take the position into a leadership role on Puget Sound cleanup, pay attention to clean water supplies and be mindful of climate-change issues.

Goldmark, a longtime member of the Washington State University Board of Regents, offers great potential for binding the eastern and western halves of the state on big pecuniary means themes. He lacks Sutherland’s management experience, however the charge obviously demands something more.