DNR is trying to figure out how much to raise fees and how much the public is willing to pay….
How about explaining to the public what you do with the fees paid by hunting and fishing licenses?
The Public Sector is wearing me out….
Pay the employees on average more than the general population makes and give them better benefits to top it off.
I am sure they have jobs. Apply for one. 
Actually they have just over 100 field positions open…but can’t fill them because of cutbacks.
Yesterday, I learned there are 48 everyday people on the Budget Oversight Committee. If you have some free time, they are looking for some good people. Pay?
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You might get a sandwich now and then.
It’s surprising the information that they (the dnr) is putting up on the net now for anyone to see. I picked up on a possible “push” for each office to communicate better with the public (my words not theirs). One of the ways of doing this was to make more info available on their websites.
Here’s a good example.
Sorry…the above is a little misleading.
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Note: Statutory authority for this citizen oversight function lapsed as of June 30, 2010. The DNR continues to support citizen oversight of the Game and Fish Fund while the BOC members work on reestablishing statutory authority. Citizen appointments are not being made by the commissioner while we wait to see what the future committee structure will be.
Considering the amount I believe it is underfunded and the importance of our resort industry, the DNR is one place I don’t mind spending money.
Already have my lifetime sportsmans and deer license….bought it when i was fifteen and soon ill be even up the way things are going. I know the economy is rough and money is tight but if you have any children that you feel will continue spending time in the outdoors, I feel that lifetime licenses are a worthwhile investment.
Maybe the cost of enforcement of the new boat plug law, the endangered Timber Wolf, zebra mussels in Lake Minnetonka and the new monitoring of the Mississippi River Fish ladder are all requiring more funding on order to more effectively manage..
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I am sure they have jobs. Apply for one.
Why? 
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Already have my lifetime sportsmans and deer license….bought it when i was fifteen and soon ill be even up the way things are going. I know the economy is rough and money is tight but if you have any children that you feel will continue spending time in the outdoors, I feel that lifetime licenses are a worthwhile investment.
Me too.
What ever happened to the Sportsman’s Law that was all the rage a couple of years ago?
Pass the Law and Blow the money on special interest BS?
Seriously, what are they doing with all that funding? Does it go to “the arts”.
It was BS and most people didn’t even know what they were voting for.
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What ever happened to the Sportsman’s Law that was all the rage a couple of years ago?
Pass the Law and Blow the money on special interest BS?
Here it is….right from the DNR’s website….
Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment
On Nov. 4, 2008, Minnesota voters approved a proposed Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. During the 2008 session, the Minnesota Legislature agreed to place the amendment on the ballot.
Below are answers to frequently asked questions about the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.
The question that was on the 2008 General Election ballot stated:
“Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to dedicate funding to protect our drinking water sources; to protect, enhance, and restore our wetlands, prairies, forests, and fish, game, and wildlife habitat; to preserve our arts and cultural heritage; to support our parks and trails; and to protect, enhance, and restore our lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater by increasing the sales and use tax rate beginning July 1, 2009, by three-eighths of one percent on taxable sales until the year 2034?”
Yes ……
No ……
How much money will this raise and what would it be used for?
The current general sales and use tax rate is 6.5%. Sales tax revenue is deposited in the state General Fund. The amendment will increase the general sales and use tax rate by three-eighths of one percentage point (0.375%) to 6.875% and dedicate the additional proceeds as follows:
• 33% to a newly created Outdoor Heritage Fund to be spent only to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for game, fish, and wildlife (approximately $80 million in FY 2010 and $91 million in FY 2011);
• 33% to a newly-created Clean Water Fund to be spent only to protect, enhance, and restore water quality in lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater, with at least 5% of the fund spent to protect drinking water sources (approximately $80 million in FY 2010 and $91 million in FY 2011);
• 14.25% to a newly created Parks and Trails Fund to be spent only to support parks and trails of regional or statewide significance (approximately $35 million in FY 2010 and $39 million in FY 2011);
• 19.75% to a newly created Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund to be spent only for arts, arts education, and arts access, and to preserve Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage (approximately $48 million in FY 2010 and $54.5 million in FY 2011).
These figures are estimates from the Minnesota Department of Revenue; the total amount of money available from future sales tax receipts can be greatly affected by general economic conditions in the state.
The money dedicated under the constitutional amendment will be appropriated by law. The dedicated money must supplement traditional funding sources for these purposes and could not be used as a substitute.
Will the DNR receive this money?
These dollars will not go directly to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The Legislature will make final funding decisions based on the merits of any proposed projects. Projects can be proposed by the DNR as well as other organizations and agencies.
The constitutional amendment states that funds can only be used for projects that meet the criteria established by law. That is, they must restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for game, fish, and wildlife; protect, enhance, and restore water quality in lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater; and support parks and trails of regional or statewide significance.
What are the DNR’s long-range conservation plans and strategies?
View the DNR’s long-range conservation plans and strategies
How are spending decisions being made?
Learn more about how the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council will make recommendations for 1/8 of the new sales tax revenue. The council is made up of a group of Minnesotan’s asked to collaborate and develop priority conservation spending areas for the projected revenue.Seriously, what are they doing with all that funding? Does it go to “the arts”.
It was BS and most people didn’t even know what they were voting for.
There is openings on this Oversight Committee too.
The Legacy money and DNR funding are two completely different issues.
MN DNR does not do everything right and it does not spent all the dollars in the right places but they are sorely underfunded for the amount of resources they have to oversee and manage for us sportsmen and women. A license increase while painful in hard economic times is way overdue. Even if they doubled the license fees it would still be cheaper than a round of golf, a tank of gas or a night at the movies so stop complaining and start supporting. My question to those complaining is what have you done to help our resources, when was the last time you stepped up to the plate and volunteered to help remove invasive plant species from a WMA, cleaned up a boat landing or shooting range, worked to protect groundwater or prevent ag runoff from entering a lake or introduced a kid or non-outdoors person to nature? If you are not giving back time and money to protect and improve our resources you are a user, abuser and you need to put up before you speak up. If you are not giving back to the resources you enjoy you are the problem not the solution and you have zero right to complain. Want a novel idea, tax agriculture and polluting businesses like golf courses, mining and ethanol plants to help fund the DNR, why don’t they have to pay for making money on our natural resources while destroying them?
Now addressing the Legacy money, I don’t know every project they funded but I do know that 4.5 miles of new trout stream habitat improvement work was done in the summer of 2010 on the Middle Branch of the Whitewater River, Mill Creek and Trout Run with Legacy funds. That is 4.5 more miles of quality fishing, more and larger trout and the elimination or great reduction in the amount of invertebrate and trout egg smothering slit that enters our streams and rivers. I for one agree with the voters that MN has a great natural resource legacy and if we want to protect, restore and enhance it for us and future generations we have to pay the piper now or kiss it goodbye.
Now that is good information. Informed and well written.
Thank you for sharing. Facts are always welcome.
BK –
Please send me a PM.
I may be interested. I served on a couple of fishing roundtables in the past and found them to be “too social” and not enough business of the management of the resource.
Dog
I’ll just post it here in case there are others that would like to get involved.
Garry is the fella that can help you.
Email: [email protected]
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Whitewater River, Mill Creek and Trout Run
Is this the Mill Creek in Chatfield area, just north of town?
If so, I have seen the area the are working on. In my lifetime of driving this road (25+ years) I have never seen anyone fishing the area where they are putting in the boulders and working on the bank improvements. Just $.02, but if this is my tax payer money I’m not real excited about this project, but hey – maybe someone else is.
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Whitewater River, Mill Creek and Trout Run
Is this the Mill Creek in Chatfield area, just north of town?
If so, I have seen the area the are working on. In my lifetime of driving this road (25+ years) I have never seen anyone fishing the area where they are putting in the boulders and working on the bank improvements. Just $.02, but if this is my tax payer money I’m not real excited about this project, but hey – maybe someone else is.
Maybe the area will produce after the improvements?
It’s obvious alot of us don’t know the first thing about what the DNR does. I don’t think we can question their actions in trying to improve things. They have all the experts and resources, we just have keyboards. I think the rub against the DNR is we can’t figure out where all the money goes. As a agency they seem top heavy with management and clerical and very thin out in the field.
We can complain, but in the long run these are the only people we have in our corner. They are our only hope.
Oh man Brian!
I have MANY Many complaints about the DNR, just like the FW has about me.
But you summed it up perfectly.
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We can complain, but in the long run these are the only people we have in our corner. They are our only hope.
and I’ll add just one thing to this.
We are their only hope.
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Considering the amount I believe it is underfunded and the importance of our resort industry, the DNR is one place I don’t mind spending money.
900 million dollars isn’t enough?? 
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/aboutdnr/budget/fy10-11/budget_from.pdf
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What ever happened to the Sportsman’s Law that was all the rage a couple of years ago?
Pass the Law and Blow the money on special interest BS?
Seriously, what are they doing with all that funding? Does it go to “the arts”.
It was BS and most people didn’t even know what they were voting for.
The money is getting spent on “Feel Good” projects like Lake Christina, yet they reject doing things that have been proven to work in other states.
why do you think Missouri is turning into the new Arkansas for duck hunting? – Moist Soil Management.
Our DNR and Lessard Council wouldn’t want to try that out though…
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Lessard-Sams council rejects moist-soil funding request
By Chris Niskanen
[email protected]
Updated: 08/21/2010 07:28:19 PM CDTA new strategy to create waterfowl habitat in Minnesota was dealt a blow last week when the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council rejected funding for the project.
The Department of Natural Resources was seeking $443,500 to design and implement moist-soil management units. The new strategy to improve the state’s sagging waterfowl populations was announced in January by DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten.
The project involves intensively managing shallow impoundments. The impoundments are drained in the summer to allow the growth of plants and then flooded in the fall so ducks can forage on the plants’ seeds and insects.
The impoundments mimic Minnesota’s most commonly drained natural wetlands, known as seasonal or “temporal” wetlands. Moist-soil units have been used widely and successfully in other states to attract and provide food for waterfowl.
The DNR was counting on the grant to start several small moist-soil projects totaling 484 acres. The DNR planned to build three units and contract for design work and feasibility studies on seven others.
The projects, however, didn’t impress the Lessard-Sams council, which is considering projects for $86 million in conservation work through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. The moist-soil project ranked 32nd out of 42 proposals.
“It looks like an expensive Band-Aid; that’s how most (council members) looked at it,” said Jim Cox, a council member and former president of the Minnesota Waterfowl Association.
“The council is well aware that grassland and wetland complexes are among the most threatened landscapes in Minnesota, and that’s where you can produce ducks and a whole array of grassland birds,” Cox said. “I think we’re looking at trying to solve Minnesota’s habitat issues, not trying to artificially draw birds into the state.”
Dennis Simon, the DNR’s wildlife section chief, said the funding rejection sets the project back.
“I’m a little disappointed. We see this as just another facet of our waterfowl management strategy,” he said.
Simon said the agency might be able to find other, smaller sources of funding, such as from the sale of state duck stamps, but the projects would progress more slowly than with the Legacy money.
He said other moist-soil management projects are under way. The North Ottawa large flood-reduction project in Grant County, in west-central Minnesota, would incorporate moist-soil units, he said. A local water and soil conservation district is funding that project, with input from the DNR.
and not to mention, in the state of our economy, and the deficit in this state, ALL STATE DEPARTMENTS need to be cutting their budgets, not wanting to expand them via fee or tax increases.
maybe they should trim some of the excess out of their dept, and spend the money they have more responsibly.
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