PORT ANGELES — U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer will launch the Olympic Peninsula Collaborative, a timber partnership with an environmental bent, in Port Angeles today.
The gathering will be at 10 a.m. at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, will host an interactive panel discussion on how the collaborative will seek to benefit the environmental quality of area forests and support sustainable timber harvests on the Olympic Peninsula.
The names of those on the panel were not announced Thursday.
The collaborative “is the first of its kind on the Peninsula solely dedicated to creating environmentally sound forests while increasing sustainable timber harvests,” Kilmer’s office said in a news release.
Kilmer will be joined by regional leaders from the National Forest Service, local governments, the local timber industry and environmental advocacy groups, his office said.
The collaborative will be focused on landscape restoration, watershed protection and habitat conservation that will create economic opportunities on the Olympic Peninsula.
Among the items discussed will be the group’s goals and governance structure, along with the best ways to incorporate feedback from the public.
The Olympic Peninsula Collaborative is modeled on similar partnerships in Washington state like the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition, Kilmer’s office said.
Kilmer announced the formation of the partnership in December 2013.
He is also co-chairman of the Healthy Forest Caucus, founded in 2013.
The caucus is a bipartisan working group devoted to the state of forest health, forest management practices, conservation efforts and engagement with area communities.