DNR Makes Adjustments Following Cuts To Land Acquisition Fund

The Department of Natural Resources is starting to address how it will handle less money for its land acquisition program, as well as selling public land.

Republican lawmakers sliced the amount of money that can be borrowed for the stewardship fund. The legislators also ordered that public access to current state properties be documented and increased, and demanded the sale of 10,000 acres by 2017.

DNR land administrator Kurt Thiede says there will be a greater emphasis on rating potential acquisitions, and buying conservation easements instead of whole properties. “That’s just another opportunity for us to explore forest legacy easements, such as we’ve had previously.”

Thiede says easements in recent years include land near the Saint Croix and Brule rivers and in the Central Sands region.

Thiede says as to selling land, the DNR has sold other property before and has already started identifying some potential acres for sale. But, he says, the DNR board will have to approve any specific sales beginning perhaps later this year.