Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota's new natural resources commissioner, Sarah Strommen, will give opening remarks Friday at the annual DNR Roundtable in Bloomington.

The new administration will host Becky Humphries, chief executive of the National Wild Turkey Federation, as the event's keynote speaker. Humphries will give a national perspective on the future of conservation funding in an era of declining outdoors license sales.

More than 100 invited fishing and hunting opinion leaders are expected to attend the event, now in its 29th year. This year's all-day discussion about fish, wildlife and water resources will be at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington.

At one session, Brad Parsons, who was promoted in 2018 to head the DNR's fisheries division, will discuss the challenges of controlling aquatic invasive species where fishing and public lake accesses are concerned. He'll be joined by two other DNR leaders, Heidi Wolf and Ann Pierce.

Elsewhere at the Roundtable, Ray Ruiz of the DNR will explain what he's doing to engage Latino communities in the outdoors. In a related session, Mark Norquist of Modern Carnivore and Becca Griffith of New Hunter will explore approaches to recruiting new hunters.

Lou Cornicelli, the DNR's wildlife research supervisor, will give an update on chronic wasting disease in wild deer. At yet another session, Jon Drimel of DNR will lead a panel discussion about the state's increased timber harvest.

Sportsmen's Show opens Thursday

The 49th annual Minnesota Sportsmen's Show opens Thursday afternoon at RiverCentre in downtown St. Paul.

The four-day event combines the newest in boating, camping, lodging vacations and equipment for fishing, hunting and other outdoors activities. The exhibits will be opened daily until the show closes. Also featured will be family-friendly hunting and fishing seminars.