DNR consolidates

management when

dealing with budget cuts

About $10 million to be slashed

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

ST. PAUL -- The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will reduce its management structure and shift responsibilities in a multi-million-dollar cost-cutting move effective July 1.

Although exact details of the cuts and realignments remain unknown, a good number of regional management employees in Rochester and Brainerd will be transferred or laid off.

The Rochester regional office will merge with the New Ulm regional office. The Brainerd office will be split into three other offices, according to a memo to employees written by DNR Commissioner Allen Garber.

About 65 managerial and support staff are listed in the DNR's directory for the Rochester and Brainerd regions. Most employees are expected to be reassigned to the four remaining regions.

The officer mergers are expected to save $1 to $2 million dollars, as part about $10 million (22 percent) that is anticipated to be cut, DNR Communications Director Dennis Stauffer said.

"It's a big hit and unfortunate that we will lose a lot of talented people," Stauffer said. "It will have some impact on controls and services, but the hits will be uneven, hitting some areas much more than others."

Budget cut details should be known in about a week when more exact numbers are expected from the Legislature.

Cuts will involve administration, human resources, communications, computers, waters, forestry, parks and engineering, according to Stauffer.

The DNR's wildlife, fisheries, trails and waterways divisions are supported by dedicated funds that cannot be touched by cuts, Stauffer said.

The cuts will be felt by the general public, but service counters and other field operations in the Rochester and Brainerd are not expected to be eliminated.

"We won't get the job done as well as we could have or should have," Stauffer said. "People need to understand we don't have people sitting on their hands."

Mark Lindquist, Regional Planner in the New Ulm DNR office, said the next round of state budget cuts will determine how the local office will be affected.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.