Keep Sutherland as lands commissioner

State Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland has led and managed the state Department of Natural Resources with a steady, competent hand for four years. The Republican from Pierce County has earned another term.

Oversight of 2 million acres of state trust land requires a dual mind-set. Part of the job is stewardship of forests in Eastern and Western Washington for future generations. The challenge also is to raise money through logging sales for the school construction fund, county governments and even local hospitals and libraries.

Sutherland spent a lot of his first term working on a management plan for the next 10 years. The state Board of Natural Resources eventually approved a 30-percent increase in the annual harvest to 597 million board feet a year. Revenues for DNR's trust obligations would increase an estimated $35 million a year.

The case for removing Sutherland has not been made by his opponent, Rep. Mike Cooper, a four-term Democrat from the 21st Legislative District, which includes Mukilteo, Edmonds and Lynnwood.

Cooper generally embraces the themes of the conservation groups among his supporters: longer growing cycles, variable-density thinning and leaving more trees at final harvest. The overall charge from Cooper is that Sutherland's plan puts the health of the forests in jeopardy.

By reducing the harvest, Cooper argues that less is more over time, with increased revenues coming in the future from the sale of higher-quality logs.

This approach makes Cooper reluctant to predict cut levels or income under his management regime.

Cooper is a credible candidate who chairs the House Fisheries, Ecology and Parks Committee. We've confidently endorsed him for the Legislature, but not for this job.

Sutherland's preferred alternative, the one adopted by the resources board, offers a desirable balance between careful management, near- and long-term revenue generation and protection for old-growth trees.

A weakness in Sutherland's approach, or at least his explanation, is the future role for forest certification in Washington's state forests. Certifying systems that review management practices, such as the Forest Stewardship Council, can add value in the marketplace.

Sutherland's stewardship of DNR and his sustainable-forestry principles in the new 10-year plan received a strong vote of approval from Bruce Bare, a member of the state Board of Natural Resources, and dean of the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington.

The Seattle Times joins in the broad bipartisan support for Sutherland's re-election to another four years as state lands commissioner.