Gov. David Ige on Tuesday announced three nominations to the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Chris Yuen

The nominations come one day before a Hawaii state Senate committee is scheduled to consider Ige’s controversial nomination of Carleton Ching to lead the BLNR and the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Keith “Keone” Downing is a waterman and big wave rider. He runs a family-owned surf shop, Downing Hawaii.

Downing replaces Vernon Char, a local attorney and the first chairman of the State Ethics Commission from 1968 – 1975. Char was appointed to the land board last July by former Gov. Neil Abercrombie for a term expiring in June 2017. However, his appointment still needed Senate confirmation.

Ulalia Woodside, who has been serving on the BLNR on an interim basis since last year, is the regional asset manager for natural and cultural resources at Kamehameha Schools’ Land Assets Division. According to the administration, Woodside also worked at Wilson Okamoto Corporation, The Hallstrom Group and the DLNRs.

Ulalia Woodside

Woodside also serves as a steering committee member for Hawaii Green Growth and is the indigenous representative for the Landscape Conservation Cooperative National Council, says the administration. She is a former commissioner for the Natural Area Reserves System Commission and a former executive council chair for the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative.

Christopher Yuen is also currently serving on the BLNR on an interim basis and previously held BLNR’s Hawaii County seat. He sits on the advisory councils for the Laupahoehoe and Puuwaawaa Experimental Tropical Forest.

Keone Downing

Yuen has also owned and managed The Family Farm, a 20-acre certified organic farm supplying local markets with bananas, lychee and rambutan. He also served as Hawaii County’s planning director.

All three nominations are subject to Senate confirmation.