Thursday, January 17, 2008

Can the Minnesota DNR be trusted stewards of Minnesota’s lands and waters?

Most Minnesotans grew up with a warm feeling for the folks at the DNR. Their usual interaction was with a conservation officer, most often when being checked while fishing, hunting, or perhaps just a casual encounter while hiking a state park or forest. I always came away with certain knowledge that these were folks who could be trusted to protect the state’s natural heritage. No more.

In recent years we have seen the politicization of the DNR as it has become an arm of industry and force for development. In terms of ill conceived and disastrously executed development programs, all one has to do is look to its trashing of Minnesota’s North Shore under the guise of its docks at all costs Safe Harbor program. In respect to its having become a toady of industry one need only look to its ongoing efforts to open every forest, trash every wetland, ruin every stream, and tear up every trail at the behest of Arctic Cat, Polaris and those ATV riders who believe literally that no stone should remain unturned in the pursuit of their so-called ‘sport”.

The latest exposition by the DNR of the loss of its soul is on display in north central Minnesota as it peddles its plan for the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest. To view the draft plan, maps and other documents, visit: www.dnr.state.mn.us/input/mgmtplans/ohv/designation/status.html. Scroll to West Central Group — North Unit for documents.

The MN DNR would have us believe it has a mandate from heaven – in our state that is St. Paul – to allow ATVers to trammel the forest and banks that cradle the Mississippi. Keep in mind that this, the Mississippi Headwaters, is the only stretch of river in the state that is designated “wild” and that for generations the state, through the DNR has pledge to maintain it as such.

How did the DNR wander so far off its path? The reasons are complex, but basically it strayed because of prevailing attitude in St. Paul under the Pawlenty administration that the business of the state is business. This has been combined with the governor’s right wing religious conservative republican twisted idea that biblical stewardship equates to domination and destruction. Add to this the essentially corrupt pandering by Iron Range elected state politicians whose supporters demand unrestricted access to and use of the North Woods, along with weak and ineffectual leadership at the top of the DNR and you end up with a badly compromised DNR.

On a practical level, it translates into the trashing of out-state Minnesota. Unfortunately, we are not at the start of the process, but some where past its middle, especially in regard to the DNR ATV trail plan. This is because in countering the DNR’s efforts, the state’s environmental groups have, in part, been asleep at the switch, but mainly have not been able to muster the resources to counter the combined weight of the DNR and the ATV industry.

Though not impossible to stop, those who love northern Minnesota are forced to fight against the very agency most of the state likely still mistakenly thinks is protecting our natural bounty. In fact, however, the DNR is not just cheerleading the destruction of lake, stream, field and forest, it is actively abetting it as it not only echoes those who say we just want a little bit here and a little bit there and a little bit everywhere to destroy in our legitimate quest for fun. No, the DNR is taking up the call itself saying it’s only fair for these good folks on their wonderful machines to totally destroy all that we have worked so hard to protect.

And all of this will soon be coming to Cook County courtesy of our own branch of the ATV industry, our local ATV club, working hand in hand with the DNR as they work to likewise drag us down the same rutted trail. Hopefully, the county board will stop this insanity.

If you are interested in just what the DNR is mind for the Mississippi Headwaters, and what impact ATV’s have on people, communities, and our natural areas, go to www.atvreport.blogspot.com.

True

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