May 20, 1999
Chehalis Basin Partnership
Mayor Robert Spahr
City of Chehalis
PO Box 871
Chehalis WA 98532-0871
Dear Partnership Members
The Department of Ecology's Southwest Regional Office Management Team would like to announce that they have selected Kahle Jennings as Ecology's representative on the Chehalis Basin Partnership filling the vacancy created by Brian Walsh's departure.
Kahle comes to this position after four years of work in the Chehalis Basin and Pacific County as Ecology's Water Quality Program lead on local, state, and federal water quality issues. He prepared the first assessment of water issues for the Chehalis basin in 1996. This document guides the Water Quality Program's priorities for the basin, and was used to justify the nomination of the Chehalis basin as a priority watershed under Ecology's Local Action Team initiative. Since then, he worked closely with Brian as an Ecology staff representative on the Chehalis Local Action Team before it became known as the Chehalis Basin Partnership. Kahle's other experience includes managing over two million dollars of grants and loans to local implementation groups; facilitating a series of meetings with cranberry growers and industry representatives that will reduce pesticide levels in ditches draining the bogs; representing the Water Quality Program on local water quality planning groups; and helping negotiate a ground-breaking agreement that will help reduce the high cost of waste water treatment for municipalities and industries affected by the Upper Chehalis TMDL.
Kahle has demonstrated his commitment to listening to local concerns and working within the framework of state and federal law to achieve mutually acceptable outcomes. Many of you have met or worked with Kahle during the last four years. He looks forward to building on those relationships and beginning new ones, and working with the Partnership on efforts to solve the complex issues affecting water for people, farms and fish of the Basin. As a new member of the Partnership, he is eager to get started.
The Department of Ecology has moved quickly to fill this vacancy as a demonstration of our commitment to achieving the goals of the Chehalis Basin Partnership. We appreciate Marc Duboiski's assisting us in the interview and selection process. His working knowledge of the Partnership and his local government perspective were invaluable. We ask you to welcome Kahle to the Partnership and invite you to meet with him over the next weeks and months to help him learn what issues are important to you.
Sincerely,
Gale Blomstrom
Regional Supervisor
Shorelands and Environmental Assistance Program
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