DNR want more $ for trees

[Lee Borgersen]

DNR wants more green for trees: Officials tout Dayton proposal for more forestry money

4/16/15

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BEMIDJI-- Officials from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Forestry Division on Wednesday promoted an idea from Gov. Mark Dayton to add $2 million a year to the division’s $24 million annual budget over the next biennium.

Forrest Boe, head of the DNR’s Forestry Division, told reporters on a press conference call that the potential budget boost would help make state-owned forests more sustainable and productive, increase the DNR’s ability to respond to forest health threats like the emerald ash borer, and modernize the agency’s data collection efforts.

The extra $2 million a year would also allow the DNR to hire up to three more forestry employees, Boe said. Two workers would help with forest health, and the third would help with technology, he said.

The Minnesota House of Representatives has $500,000 annually in new money for Forestry, but the amount of funding in the Senate’s proposal is unknown, Boe said.

Boe said he hoped the funding in Dayton’s proposal would make it into the final bill after being reconciled with the House and Senate budget proposals.

“We’re very hopeful that there’ll be something in here for the division of Forestry,” he said. “We have got a lot of needs. Of course, there’s a lot of needs in a lot of areas of state government, so we understand how all of that works as well.”

The point of the cash influx isn’t to increase the timber harvest on state land, Boe said.

“Our goal is not to increase harvests,” he said. “We harvest about 800,000 cords annually on our state forest land. That is a good and sustainable number for us. This particular initiative would not have us harvesting more to increase that number.”

Although the volume of the harvest wouldn’t be affected, the quality of the harvest could be, since the new money is geared in part to helping timber stand improvement work, Boe said.

Boe also pointed out that Dayton proposed giving an additional $200,000 annually to the Forest Resources Council, a partnership between the state government and the private wood products/timber industry. It helps create industry guidelines and advises the state.

Dave Zumeta, executive director of the FRC, said the extra money would help improve the vitality of the forest products industry, which is facing flagging demand and stiff competition from overseas.

“A key outcome that we’re seeking is to increase the number of jobs.. provided by the forest products industry,” he said.

The DNR also is working to respond to climate change, Boe said.

“They way we do that is, making sure our forests are healthy… that we have a good variety of trees,” he said. “We don’t exactly know how climate change is going to affect our forests in the future. We know we’re not ready to start taking species from Iowa or southern states and planting them up here. But we do know that having a healthy and resilient forest will help us in the climate change arena.”