National Bipartisan Rural Prosperity Commission to Hold Olympic Peninsula Field Hearings
Published 1:30 am Thursday, August 6, 2026
A bipartisan national commission studying the future of rural America will visit the Olympic Peninsula Aug. 11-13 to hear directly from local leaders, businesses, tribes and community organizations about the opportunities and challenges facing rural communities.
The America’s Rural Future: Brookings-AEI Commission on U.S. Rural Prosperity will spend three days on the Peninsula with events in Port Angeles on Aug. 11, Forks on Aug. 12, and Port Angeles again on Aug. 13.
The commission is co-chaired by former U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-North Dakota, and former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican. The bipartisan panel is examining issues affecting rural communities across the nation and is expected to develop a comprehensive national rural prosperity strategy in 2027.
The Olympic Peninsula field hearings, titled “Coastal Industry, Outdoor Recreation, and Rural Economic Renewal,” will focus on several issues unique to the region, including economic diversification following changes in the timber industry, energy grid resilience, tribal governance and cross-sovereign cooperation, maritime industry development, outdoor recreation, and the opportunities and challenges created by the area’s large amount of federally managed land.
The commission will make stops in Port Angeles, Forks, the Elwha River area and Lake Crescent. Discussions will emphasize locally driven economic development, infrastructure improvements and how federal, state and local policies can work together to strengthen rural communities.
Former U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer, who represented Washington’s 6th Congressional District and now serves as a commission member, will help provide local perspective during the hearings.
The Olympic Peninsula visit is the commission’s fourth series of field hearings. Previous listening sessions have been held in North Dakota, Minnesota, the Mississippi Delta and eastern Kentucky. Information gathered from communities across the country will be used to help shape the commission’s final recommendations for strengthening rural America.
Commission members participating in the Peninsula hearings include former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, former Gov. Chris Sununu, Benji Backer, Phil Chow, Charles Cotherman, Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson, Thomas Halverson, Keith Humphreys, Derek Kilmer, Trent McKnight, former U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small, and retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Stephen Wilson.
