Former U.S. Rep. Herrera-Beutler seeks healthier forests to curb wildfires as state lands chief

Clark County Republican back in electoral politics less than a year after her impeachment vote led to her ouster as SW Washington congresswoman

By Andre Stepankowsky

Less than a year after she was ousted from a 12-year run in Congress, Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler is getting back into elective politics.

She said Tuesday her decision to run for State Lands Commissioner is personal.

She, her husband, Dan, and their three children live on five acres near Yacolt, an east Clark County town that was incinerated by a massive 1902 wildfire. As lands commissioner, she wants to reduce the threat of future wildfires and restore forests to a better health.

“Decades of under-management and neglect have turned too many of our public forests into crowded, diseased tinderboxes,”  Herrera Beutler said in a written statement announcing her candidacy. “Fires now run rampant every summer.  They ruin our days with smoke, emit carbon, make home insurance unavailable and housing even more unaffordable. And for those unfortunate enough to live in the path of one of those fires, they can cause unimaginable heartache.”

In a phone interview Tuesday, she said condition of the Southwest Washington’s forests in particular is especially important to her, because the woodlands here were “formative” to her and “I want to pass them on to my kids.”

“We want our kids to be here and not have to bring them inside so they are not choking on smoke.”

Herrera-Beutler is one of several candidates vying to replace Washington’s current lands commissioner, Democrat Hilary Franz, in the 2024 election. Franz, first elected in 2016, is running for governor.

The state lands commissioner is the executive in charge of the state Department of Natural Resources, which manages 5.6 million acres of forest, range and tide lands to generate revenue for counties and public school construction.

In addition to emphasizing forest health, Herrera Beutler  said more needs to be done to protect coastal oyster growers from burrowing shrimp infestations and invasive species. The state has resisted using pesticides to control the shrimp, though it did finally act over the last couple decades to help beat back spartina, an invasive coastal weed.

“I feel like the oyster growers need an advocate,” Herrera Beutler said. Declining to be specific, she said “My goal is to protect what we have of native species and not let invasive species take over.”

She noted that she is familiar with natural resource issues because they affect coastal and inland regions she represented in  Congress. These included wildlife habitat conservation,  protection of endangered salmon, combatting ocean acidification to reverse the deterioration of shellfish habitat, and increasing recreational access to public lands.

Lands commissioner is “a perfect fit” for her, she said.

Herrera Beutler, 44, represented Southwest Washington’s 3rd District for six terms. She was ousted in the 2022 primary by Trump-backed Joe Kent over her vote to impeach the former President after the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.

Historically, Southwest Washington candidates have failed  to win statewide elective office. The only exception in the at least the last half century was Republican Brian Boyle, a former Cowlitz County commissioner who defeated a long-time Democratic incumbent state lands commissioner during the 1980 Reagan landslide.  Today, Republicans do not hold a single statewide elective office. 

In Congress, Herrera Beutler established herself as a moderate and independent Republican. She  generally coasted to re-election in this conservative rural congressional district until running afoul of the GOP’s MAGA element.

Herrera-Beutler is aware that history, political demographics and lingering GOP anger over her impeachment vote make this election a challenge for her. But she’s confident, in part because she considers forest health an apolitical goal that should get wide support.

 “Fires respect no political boundaries. I feel good about where Republicans will come down on this. I have had a real pleasant welcome from people who were upset with me and who have already contributed to my campaign.”

She said the increasing number of forest fires and are helping to “reverse the pendulum” and make the public more receptive to thinning and other measures to restore forests to a healthier condition.

She said she would not propose new laws or forest regulations or open up protected areas to logging. She just wants to follow the advice of foresters, who she says know how to reduce wildfire danger, enhance biodiversity and protect habitat on state-managed lands, which by law must be managed to produce income.

“Foresters will tell you that to protect forests you have to get rid of the dead and dying trees so there is a diversity of age classes.”

Opposition to forest management, Herrera Beutler said, “has been based more on emotion than on science. I think that because fires have been so catastrophic, there is an opportunity to bring solutions (to restore forest health) to the general public.” 

There had been some speculation in political circles that Herrera Beutler might run for governor, with incumbent Democrat Jay Inslee stepping down. Tuesday, she said she’s not focused on any office other than lands commissioner.

“I am not planning beyond this, this is what I have my heart  set on, and this is what I’m excited about.” 

Herrera Beutler is a graduate of the University of Washington and recently completed a Fellowship-in-Residency at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.  She serves on the board of the National Kidney Foundation and as a strategic advisor to the Children’s Hospital Association.