WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- Jay Kehe, 57, of Omak has been appointed to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission as one of the three required East Side representatives on the nine-member panel.

Kehne is a conservationist, sheep farmer and hunter.  Along with a 30 year career with the  Natural Resources Conservation Service, he’s the Okanogan outreach coordinator for Conservation Northwest, and a member of  the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Mule Deer Foundation.

Kehn gave this perspective on his outlook as a commissioner who will be deciding fish and wildlife policy for the state, in an interview for a blog post by Andy Walgamott of Northwest Sportsman Magazine:

"Bottom line is, I was a hunter and fisherman before I was anything. I then became a wildlife biologist and then a soil scientist and then spent 30 years working with farmers and ranchers. So my training is to look at things from a scientific perspective, but be sensitive to the very real concerns of ranchers and never never forget my hunting roots. My hunting buddies would disown me if I did that," Kehne says.

Here's more on Kehne from the Wenatchee World.