DNR split doesn't belong in budget
The timber industry has made its point.

Let's agree to examine concerns over Wisconsin's timber management. But then let's agree that this idea to splinter the Department of Natural Resources is premature, at best.

Foresters rallied this week to protest state practices. Dan Meyer, chairman of the Governor's Council on Forestry, said the DNR has neglected forestry issues and has assigned state foresters to other tasks.

Supporters say creating a separate Department of Forestry is the only hope to improve management and serve one of the state's largest industries.

Environmentalists, sports enthusiasts, the Natural Resources Board and others have lined up in opposition to the budget proposal. Many oppose added bureaucracy and duplication. Former DNR Secretary George Meyer has added his voice.

So has Dan Trainer, the venerable former dean of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's College of Natural Resources.

Trainer has shown this area how woods and water are inseparable. The Green Circle Trail and the Plover River are testaments of his actions and his philosophy. "Forestry is an integral part of natural resource management," he said.

But he understands the frustration. Creating a separate department would give forestry more authority and influence. The state needs more foresters, in part to meet the needs of private landowners.

Trainer sees other problems with the status quo. For example, the mill tax was designed to be used specifically for forestry practices but has been diverted to other purposes. "You have to stretch the imagination" to see the connection to forestry, he said.

All legitimate issues, Trainer agrees. But splitting the DNR isn't the way to address those problems.

The budget process isn't the place to do it, either. "This does not seem like the right way to do business," Trainer said. "If a forestry department has merit, it should be presented that way and sold on its merits."

And done in the open. Foresters may have had concerns, but they should have gotten their message out this spring during the Conservation Congress/DNR hearings. Republicans failed to sell their original idea -- to split the DNR into two departments, one focusing on environmental regulations and one overseeing hunting, fishing, parks and forests -- so the forestry split was hatched in the secrecy of the budget negotiations.

It's in the governor's hands now. He can use his budget ax to split the DNR. Or he can use it to eliminate this proposal from the budget and push Secretary Darrell Bazzell to address the foresters' concerns.

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