Kotek Sends Senate 2 New Members For Oregon Fish And Wildlife Commission

The names of two Multnomah County men have been submitted to the Oregon Legislature for confirmation to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Late last week, Governor Tina Kotek nominated Dave Moldal and Hugh Morrison to the board that sets policies for ODFW and hires its director. The appointments will be considered by the state Senate Committee on Rules during next month’s legislative days, scheduled for November 17-19.

The appointments will bring the Fish and Wildlife Commission back to its full strength of seven. It would also appear to mean that Dr. Leslie King of Portland will only have served one term on the citizen panel. Her term runs through November 19.

On his LinkedIn page, Moldal describes himself as a senior program manager at Energy Trust of Oregon, a nonprofit that works to help homeowners, businesses and others reduce their energy bills and where he has worked in various roles for nearly 13 years. Before that he did project development in Colorado and Portland, worked as an FBI special agent in Minnesota for three years, and was a regional organizer for the National Wildlife Federation.

He has a masters of science in environmental sciences and a masters of public administration from Indiana University.

As for Morrison, his LinkedIn shows he served in various roles for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, including most recently as regional director for the Pacific Region.

In January 2023, upon being named to that position, which oversees most of Oregon, all of Washington, Idaho and Hawaii and several US territories in the Pacific, agency national Director Martha Williams said, “Throughout his career, Hugh has been a leader and proponent of collaborative conservation and consensus building across the Service’s programs and regions, as well as with our partners. He is also passionate about employee well-being and development and finding novel ways to deliver the Service’s conservation mission.”

Morrison also served as a USFWS deputy regional director, regional business advisor, and assistant regional director, and he retired from the Service this past April.

In recent years he has also done outdoors-oriented consulting work and network coordination, as well as volunteered for the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts and served on the board of the North Coast Land Conservancy.

Originally from Eugene, Morrison has a masters of public administration from the University of Washington.

Commissioners serve four-year terms and many serve two terms.

Commissioner King was appointed in fall 2021. During her time on the commission, she’s shown an interest in promoting urban outdoor opportunities, spreading the word about 6PPD-q runoff in salmon streams, voted to close a hatchery on the North Umpqua and abstained in a vote to ban coyote killing contests.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission has been down a member since Kathayoon Khalil of Portland left the panel somewhere around the start of this year.

Current members include Chair Mary Wahl of Langlois, Vice Chair Becky Hatfield-Hyde of Paisley, Mark Labhart of Sisters, Bob Spelbrink of Siletz and Dallas Hall Defrees of Baker City.

Members are appointed by regional watershed management area, with two from the Upper Northwest Region, two from the West Central Region, and one from each of the Southwest, North Central and Eastern Regions.