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Methow Valley News September 14, 2000 Endangered Species Beich heading to F&W in Ephrata Stelle steps from NMFS to law firm job Beich heading to F&W in Ephrata County seeking water chief’s replacement by Lee Hicks Okanogan County water resources director, Dennis Beich, is leaving to become Region 2 director of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in Ephrata. Beich’s switch is the second among key officials involved in watershed planning and negotiations toward a fish and water agreement in the Methow basin. He will replace Jeff Tayer, who has represented state F&W in the negotiations. Tayer has already taken over as director of the agency’s Region 3 Yakima office. Beich became the county’s first water resources director in early 1999 at the beginning of watershed planning authorized by state legislation, HB 2514. A graduate of the University of Washington forestry program, Beich has 25 years of experience in natural resources planning. He has previously worked as a private industry consultant on forestry and land-use issues, an environmental planner for the City of Everett, and a wetland biologist for the Washington Department of Ecology in Spokane. With Okanogan County, he has been the lead public official involved in the watershed planning process, which includes administration of a $2.5 million annual budget. State F&W director Jeff Koenings said Beich had the, "unique ability to find common ground" in the context of "all the contentious issues involving water rights in the Methow Valley..." An avid fisher and hunter, Beich said he views, "fish and wildlife issues from the perspective of both a resource manager and a sportsman. I want to help bring those and other perspectives together in working with local constituents and officials." Beich, who takes over his new post Sept. 20, will manage 87 employees in Okanogan, Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Adams counties. WDFW operates six regional offices statewide staffed by biologists, enforcement officers and customer service representatives to provide local service. Beich’s departure leaves the county position open as the Methow basin watershed unit attempts to hammer out an agreement on endangered fish and water issues. A number of officials and members of the basin watershed unit have expressed concern over changes in the "table" of negotiators, either through intra-agency shifts or reassignments. County commission chairman Dave Schulz said Monday that the position will be advertised with a deadline of Friday,Oct. 13, for applications. In the interim, Julie Dagnon and Spence Higby will continue to work on water resource issues with the basin planning unit, he said. Stelle steps from NMFS to law firm job by Lee Hicks The man who headed the regional office of the federal agency that listed salmon and steelhead as endangered in the Northwest is leaving for potentially higher-paying work at a Seattle law firm. Will Stelle, regional director of National Marine Fisheries Service for six years, will join Preston, Gates & Ellis to practice environmental and land-use law, it was announced Sept. 9. Stelle, 49, has presided over controversial NMFS policies throughout the region, including decisions to put pressure on irrigators in the Methow basin to cut water use. Some critics say salmon recovery plans are more fragmented than ever as Stelle steps to the private sector. They claim the agency is struggling with imperfect science to support programs and has ducked such controversial issues as breaching dams on the Lower Snake River. But others say the agency has stuck to advocacy for concentrating on recovery of wild fish, although policies for accomplishing that goal have not been clearly defined in the view of some observers. The agency’s handling of endangered fish issues in the basin is known to be the subject of an investigation by the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NMFS parent agency. No results of the investigation, which involved visits and interviews by an IG auditor, have been announced. The Seattle Times reported that one consideration in Stelle’s move, effective Oct. 2, was the need to earn more than his $130,000 annual NMFS salary. He is the father of four. The law firm, Seattle’s oldest, carries two names well-known in business and civic circles. A former partner is the father of Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and Jim Ellis is a high-profile community leader, heading up the Mountains to Sound Greenway project and former leader of the Puget Sound area’s Forward Trust program credited with cleaning up Lake Washington in the 1960s and 70s. Opinion | Sports |
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