Dear Editor,

The Saturday “Expanding the Forest Management Toolbox” T3 Watershed Experiment Tour of sites in the Olympic Experimental State Forest offered many insights and facts. The collaborations of the University of Washington (UW), the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Olympic Natural Resources Center in Forks (ONRC), and others bring together many perspectives.

I consider this work as the development of a new asset: intellectual properties and knowledge for natural resource management and new jobs. It will produce more jobs in research and monitoring along with best science and practices for management of natural resources.

The increased development of new jobs and careers in field research and monitoring, data collection, analysis, and data management will dawn a new sunrise for our communities. Additionally, the development of local research laboratories for analyzing soil, water, eDNA and more will produce even more jobs. Why send samples away? We can use the jobs for labs here. The UW, DNR, and ONRC can help us establish the labs at the ONRC. I am grateful for the work being done here on our Olympic Peninsula with university/college academic and State agency staffs to create new jobs. This work will light our path forward in addressing complex changes in our futures.

Roy Morris

Sekiu WA.