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Dennis Anderson: U professor hopes daunting task can be achieved
- Article by: Dennis Anderson , Star Tribune
- Updated: January 11, 2007 - 6:38 PM
As chair of the governor's Conservation Legacy Council, Mike Kilgore will recommend changes that can be made, in time, to improve the quality of the state's natural resources.
University of Minnesota professor Mike Kilgore, chair of the governors Conservation Legacy Council, displayed a brook trout he caught on the Sutton River on a Canadian fishing trip. Kilgore said he is confident improvements can be implemented, to improve Minnesotas forests, fields and waters
Photo: Feed Loader, Photo courtesy of Mike Kilgore
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Until a few months ago, most Minnesotans -- including those actively involved in statewide natural resources conservation-- hadn't heard of Mike Kilgore.
An associate professor of natural resources economics at the U, and director there of the Center for Natural Resources Policy and Management, Kilgore, 47, was asked last fall by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to chair the governor's 15-member Conservation Legacy Council.
The council is studying the way conservation is funded, governed and delivered in Minnesota, and the governor wants a report, with recommended changes, delivered to him in late spring.
Four legislators and 11 citizens serve on the council.
Pawlenty organized the council in an effort to determine how the state can improve conservation of its forests, fields and waters. The quality of each has been adversely affected since settlement, and some state resources -- certain lakes and rivers, for example --are now critically impaired.
By general agreement, the state must plot a new, more effective course in natural resources funding and management, or accept that such losses will continue at an ever-faster pace.
An angler and hunter who grew up in Mora, Minn., Kilgore hopes such an eventuality never comes to pass.
"We are realistic about the challenge given us, but as a council we have very high expectations about what we can accomplish in the time frame the governor has given us," Kilgore said.
In its initial meetings, the council has heard from commissioners of the state agriculture, natural resources and environmental protection agencies, as well as the head of the state Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR).
"We realize others have been studying some of these same issues, particularly in the area of conservation funding," Kilgore said. "Our goal is to step back and look at three broad issues -- conservation governance, funding and delivery -- from what we call 'the 30,000-foot level,' so we can see the big picture."
There is no one conservation model most states employ, Kilgore said. Some states have "super agencies," combining divisions similar to Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
In addition to the latter two agencies, Minnesota also has Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), and it, the DNR and the MPCA are each organized and governed differently.
The DNR is headed by a commissioner appointed by the governor; the MPCA has a governor-appointed commissioner, as well as an advisory board, and BWSR employs an executive director who works for a board of directors appointed by the governor.
Whatever the advantages or disadvantages of these or other models, it's clear in Minnesota that many natural resources are withering at the hands of an increasing population, rampant development and intensive agriculture.
What to do?
"So far we're doing a lot of listening," Kilgore said. "We want to bring in the state agencies and have them tell us how they operate, bring in various groups and hear what they have to say, and also listen to what is being done in other states to address these same issues."
The Legislature this session again will consider conservation funding when it debates the merits of yet another bill to dedicate a portion of the state sales tax to conservation.
The governor's legacy council hopes to "build on" this and similar efforts, rather than duplicate them, Kilgore said.
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