Colville Cattle and Timber Ag and Rural Caucus

Cattle and TimberAg and Rural Caucus - Policy Circle:1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.21 January 2018The Hub – Community Senior CenterColville, WashingtonA note from the Cattle and Timber Ag and Rural Caucus:Cattle and Timber are the industries of our northern counties. What apples are to Wenatchee, wheat to Colfax and potatoes to Pasco (and Amazon to Seattle), cattle and timber drive the economies of Colville, Newport, and Republic.And just like Grand Coulee Dam and the Bureau of Reclamation are partners to agriculture in the Columbia Basin, the National Forest Service and the Department of Natural Resources are partners in Ferry, Stevens, and Pend O’Reille counties. (We now should probably add Fish and Wildlife to the list.)The world of Forest Service timber allotments and DNR grazing permits is not a world most of us daily inhabit. Much less so when fire rips through forests and rangeland, destroying timber stands and reducing grasslands to ash.For those of us committed to people and jobs in rural Washington, though, it is a world we need to understand. And, sometimes grudgingly, cattlemen, loggers, and mill operators need understanding outside their communities.Learning and sharing are what the Ag and Rural Caucus policy circles are about. So, make plans for a snowy Sunday afternoon in Colville. We have a star lineup of resource people – Russ Vaagen, Justin Hedrick, Bill Berrigan, and Patti Playfair.We will go from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm. This leaves time for travel, or in case you are able to stay over we can do some caucusing about our CD and LD campaigns. Always fun.