Summary

Franz’s department manages 3 million acres of state lands and 2.6 million acres of aquatic land, providing needed revenue to our state.

Story

State Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz spoke about her vision for the Department of Natural Resources and their work around emergency preparedness, forest fire prevention, land management and more at the monthly “Good Eggs” breakfast hosted by Metropolitan King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer.

L to R: Councilmember von Reichbauer, Auburn City Councilmember Yolanda Trout-Manuel, Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, and Auburn City Councilmember Larry Brown

Franz’s department manages 3 million acres of state lands and 2.6 million acres of aquatic land, providing needed revenue to our state. She also works to promote recreation such as hiking and camping and manages the state’s largest on-call fire department. Due to new trainings and strategies, such as pre-positioning equipment in fire prone areas, 96 percent of fires last year were kept to ten acres or less. Although 2017 was a marked improvement over the wildfires of 2015 and ’16, firefighting efforts still cost the state $60 million.