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Dr. Kim Thorburn is an unlikely searching advocate.
An MD who practiced inside drugs and labored as a jail doctor earlier than turning to public-health administration, Thorburn describes herself as a “hippie physician” and avid bird-watcher. The Spokane resident was as stunned as anybody when Washington’s governor tapped her to serve on the state’s Fish and Wildlife Fee.
“I feel I used to be the token non-game consultant, thought-about [for the commission] due to my lengthy work monitoring and advocating for prairie grouse and grassland hen habitat,” says Thorburn. “I’m not a hunter.”
However her skilled background in drugs and public well being ready her nicely for the fee, which considers the general public coverage, social implications, and the science of wildlife administration choices. She threw herself within the volunteer work on the fee, creating an appreciation for the steadiness between leisure alternative and species conservation, and collaborating within the give and take of managing restricted public sources.
Thorburn is now a former wildlife commissioner. She was not reappointed by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee within the newest spherical of picks. Her tenure overlapped a high-profile resolution in November 2021 to finish a long-standing restricted spring bear hunt, and opposition to a conservation coverage that de-emphasizes the function of hunters and emphasizes the significance of ecosystem well being. Thorburn has been publicly vital of commissioners she says are ignoring science as they pursue an anti-hunting agenda.
Within the second episode of a four-part podcast sequence on Hunt Discuss Radio, OL’s searching editor Andrew McKean and host Randy Newberg discuss with Thorburn about her experiences as a member of a polarized fee, and about the way forward for wildlife administration in Washington and past.
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