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Retired staff say timber‑harvest modeling pressured Wildlife Management Areas; DNR promises directive and unit plans
Summary
Retired DNR staff told a Senate oversight hearing the timber‑harvest modeling used to meet statewide cord targets has overridden habitat objectives on many Wildlife Management Areas; the DNR’s Fish and Wildlife director said the agency has issued a directive restoring habitat objectives and launched a continuous improvement plan.
Retired DNR managers and conservation coalition representatives told the Senate that a statewide timber‑optimization model was used to meet ambitious cord targets and that model outputs led to harvest decisions on Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) that prioritized timber volume and revenue over locally determined habitat needs.
Steve Moore of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership introduced former agency staff who described the modeling (the Woodstock model) and an associated Sustainable Timber Harvest analysis that, they said, drove a policy decision to count WMAs toward statewide harvest targets. Witnesses recounted field audits and a root‑cause analysis (December 2024) in which frontline staff said the model’s optimization “had little to do with forest ecology and more with putting cords on the market.” They reported that a 12% contribution assumption for WMAs was presented as a planning figure that then became an implementation target without field‑backed analysis.
Gretchen (former WMA manager) and Tim Quincy (former forest/wildlife coordinator) presented examples where stands that appeared to have clear wildlife value were nevertheless scheduled for harvest under the model. They urged the Legislature to require WMA unit plans to include habitat metrics and to ensure decisions rest with wildlife professionals.
Kelly Struck, director of the Fish and Wildlife Division at the Department of Natural Resources, acknowledged those staff concerns and described a continuous improvement action plan that the commissioner directed in 2023. Struck said the DNR has issued — and will provide to the committee — a division directive that states fish and wildlife habitat objectives (not volumetric cord quotas) will drive management decisions on DNR‑administered lands, including WMAs. She added that timber harvest decisions will be documented by wildlife managers using a habitat‑value justification and that disputes among divisions would be subject to a defined resolution process.
Lawmakers asked for the DNR memo and asked whether the agency has completed the Office of Legislative Auditor recommendations, which included tying management goals to habitat metrics in unit plans. Members also raised the separate fiduciary obligations that apply when WMAs overlie school trust lands, which require balancing conservation with revenue obligations that accrue to schools and counties.
What’s next: DNR committed to provide the committee with the fish and wildlife directive and the agency’s continuous improvement plan status so legislators can verify whether corrective steps recommended by the legislative audit have been implemented.
