WFPA - Washington Forest Protection Association

President’s Welcome and Remarks

WFPA Board of Trustees President, Toby Murray, talked about how the forest industry has changed over the last 100 years and how the industry will adapt in the future to continue being a cornerstone industry in Washington. He also addressed what it takes to be sustainable in this environment.
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Executive Directors Remarks

Executive Director, Mark Doumit, opened the meeting with his vision for the Association and unveiled the Working Forest Agenda.
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Message from the Governor’s Office

John Mankowski, Natural Resources Policy Advisor to Governor Chris Gregoire

Special Awards and Recognitions

Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year
This year, Washington Farm Forestry Association (WFFA) became co-sponsors of the Washington Tree Farm Program with WFPA. WFFA Executive Director, Rick Dunning presented the 2007-08 Washington State Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year Award to the Bob Burns Family. He also announced that the 2006-2007 Regional Award was given to Washington's Bob Playfair and Thelma Fry.

Bledsoe Award
The Stu Bledsoe Award was given to former Executive Director of WFPA, Bill Wilkerson for his commitment to natural resources throughout his career.

Steve Tveit Memorial
A Memorial resolution was passed by the WFPA Board of Trustees in honor of WFPA past president, Steve Tveit, who passed away in September 2007. The memorial was presented to Steve's family to acknowledge his contribution to the Association and his vision of sustainable forestry as a preferred land use.

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Today’s Leaders: Tomorrow’s Vision of our State

The first panel, moderated by Associated Press reporter Dave Ammons, was composed of Washington State leadership discussing topics such as climate change, rural economies, workforce, working lands initiative, competition in a global marketplace, and the future of the industry. The distinguished panelists were: Commissioner of Public Lands, Doug Sutherland; Attorney General, Rob McKenna; Community, Trade & Economic Development director, Juli Wilkerson; and Department of Agriculture director, Valoria Loveland. With increasing population pressures predicted to reach 1.5 million more people moving to the state by 2020, this panel discussed the challenges to the sustainability of our economics, environmental qualities, and natural resources.

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Keynote Speaker

Former University of Washington head football coach, Jim Lambright was the keynote speaker. He talked about the importance of teamwork, perseverance, pride and the ability to overcome obstacles by keeping a positive mindset. He also shared stories of how he’s been through difficult times and how he was able to overcome them with a positive attitude.

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Trends, Technology & Advancement in Today’s Forest Industry

In the afternoon, there were presentations on business and technology trends as well as advancements in the industry.

Butch Bernhardt, Director of Information Services
Western Wood Products Association
“Lumber Markets: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”
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Bruce Bare, Dean
University of Washington, College of Forest Resources
“Higher Education Trends—A 21st Century Vision for Sustainable Forestry”
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Monika Moskal, Ph. D.
Precision Forestry Cooperative

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Looking to the Next 100 Years: Natural Resources in Washington State

The last panel moderated by Governor Gregoire’s Chief-of-Staff, Cindy Zehnder, talked about the challenges of keeping working forests on the landscape in the face of population increases and conversion pressures. New markets are being developed, which align economic and environmental values, while also providing incentives to keep forests working.

Matt Donegan, Co-founder
Forest Capital Partners, LLC
“A Landowners Perspective on Sustainability”
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Gene Duvernoy
Cascade Land Conservancy
“Looking to the Next 100 Years”
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Adam Davis
Solano Partners
“Ecosystem Investment: Expanding the Pool of Conservation Finance”
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