In the budget now being debated by the Joint Finance Committee are provisions for splitting Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources into two entities -- a Department of Parks, Forestry and Recreation and a Department of Environmental Quality. 
 

Those in favor of the plan say the DNR has become unmanageable, and want to split the regulatory arm of the DNR from the recreation and wildlife management functions. 
 

Pushing the plan are Republican Rep. John Gard, and Sen. Robert Welsh, who offer reluctant Democrats this carrot to consider the plan: The new heads of the two divisions would be appointed by citizen boards rather than appointed by the governor. The DNR secretary has been an appointed position since 1995, when the DNR was last streamlined. 
 

While both Minnesota and Michigan have a split DNR, it isn't necessarily the way Wisconsin should go. 
 

It is difficult to see how creating a new bureaucracy is going to be more cost effective, even if resources such as office space are shared. And with the tight budget, chances are money to create the new arm of the department would be money cut from other DNR projects. 
 

In addition, most forward-thinking environmental management models are based on an integrated approach -- looking at how watersheds, wildlife and people are affected by water and air quality regulations. Surely that is easier to accomplish in a DNR where those managing wildlife are under the same umbrella as those making regulatory decisions about water and air quality. 
 

If Gard and Welsh want to have a DNR head elected by the DNR's governing citizen board, that is an idea to be embraced. Splitting the DNR is not.