Staff from the DNR Information Center stepped up when Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) sent out a plea for help manning phone lines as the new Real ID driver’s license became available, Oct. 1.

“Real ID,” is the driver’s license that will be required for domestic air travel. In expectation of a flood of calls from people who thought they’d be required to switch to the Real ID immediately, DVS appealed for help.

Gov. Mark Dayton's office also requested help from the DNR, and three information consultants from the Info Center -- Barb Hoverman (right in photo), Lee Ragan (left), and Gina Moreno (front) --  agreed to spend two days on the DVS phone lines.

The anticipated flood came – but not for Real ID. “We answered 300-400 calls a day each, virtually all of them from folks who wanted to schedule a road test, or to move their already-scheduled test up to an earlier date,” said Hoverman.

Since they didn’t have the training to do that, they transferred the call to other queues. At the DNR, customer service specialists answer the calls themselves, finding the answers online, in the regulations books, or in materials provided by the different divisions, or they connect callers with a subject matter expert who can help them.

“At DVS we scrambled to do what we could, looking up office hours for commercial driver’s license appointments, and using GoogleMaps to help folks find the Hastings office,” Hoverman said. “If nothing else, the customers were happy and relieved to get to speak to a live person.”

By the second day, they were also putting people into more specific queues. Vehicle tab questions went to one queue, and lost licenses to another.

“This was a good exercise for us to use more of the features of the Finesse phone system, which we use at both DVS and DNR, and it gave us a better look at what the 60-person DVS call center deals with on a given day,” said Ragan. “Still, it’s nice to be back at the DNR, with our total of 12 customer service specialists, where our ‘one call’ mission is the norm, and we can give folks the answer they need and send them on their way.”

Some day hopefully the favor will be returned, said DVS customer support program manager Tami Stockero.

“Gina, Lee and Barb stepped right in, and with minimal training, were able to help us with the overflow of calls that we experienced regarding drivers licenses,” Stockero said. “They were pleasant, prompt, self-sufficient – everything I know I always look for when hiring those who interact with the public.”

Since 2003, a community in the state has hosted the annual Minnesota Governor’s Deer Hunting Opener as an opportunity to showcase its hunting opportunities and outdoor recreation offerings.  This year, the event is held in Hinckley from Thursday, Nov. 1, through Sunday, Nov. 4, and features a Welcome to Camp Celebration with a banquet, hunting exhibits and vendor fair, six educational seminars, and a demonstration from a butcher about how to turn a harvested deer into venison for the freezer.

Local hunter hosts have volunteered their time to host members of the media at their hunting camps and share stories about family traditions and camp culture. For the DNR, the event is a platform to share deer management information and safety messages, and connect with our public customers. The event is coordinated by the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Explore Minnesota and Hinckley Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Visit mngovernorsdeeropener.com for more information about the event, and follow along on social media using #DeerCampMN and #OnlyinMN.

While the nongame work was satisfying, Edwards was ready for a change, and she saw the Whitewater opening as an interesting opportunity to continue focusing on habitat work, while shifting gears a little.

“I covered nine counties, a lot of area,” she said. “This is an opportunity to work in a smaller, more defined area, to still be able to do the habitat work but to get some help doing it.”

Edwards also is realizing that there's a wider range of work to her new job, from maintaining roads and dikes, to frequent and varied interactions with the public.

“The Wildlife people get beat up a lot more by the public,” Edwards notes with a slight laugh. “In nongame, I didn’t get people calling up to say there’s too many songbirds, or too many butterflies.” 

-- Harland Hiemstra, information officer, region 3

Bio box: Jaime Edwards

Job location: Whitewater Wildlife Management Area, Altura.

Been at DNR: 18 years

Position: Area manager, Whitewater Wildlife Management Area (since May 2018); previously Nongame Wildlife Program specialist for 18 years; DNRs in Iowa and Wisconsin before that.

Education: Kent State, Ohio, bachelor's degree,
zoology; Indiana State University, Terre Haute, master's, invertebrate ecology.

Something people wouldn’t know about her: “I like ‘70s disco music. It’s fun. They don’t talk about politics or serious stuff, It’s just fun.”

Strategic Land Asset Management Q&A:

Q: Which nonprofit partner organizations does the DNR work with on land acquisitions and in what capacity?

A: The DNR's major land acquisition partners are: The Trust for Public Land; The Nature Conservancy; The Conservation Fund; Pheasants Forever; Ducks Unlimited (Wetlands America Trust); Minnesota Deer Hunter’s Association; Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota and Fox Lake Conservation League.

Sometimes a partner will acquire land or an interest in land using grant funding and then convey it to the state as a gift. In other cases the partner will acquire land using private funding and then either sell or donate it to the state. A partner may also enter into a Letter of Intent agreement with the state and acquire land with private funding and then re-sell the land to the state.

In general, we closely coordinate with partners on specific parcels that we know have willing sellers.  We develop a prioritized list of potential wildlife management area acquisitions within each region that meet strategic land acquisition principles and then collaborate with partners to determine which group is in the best position to attempt an acquisition.

-- Jim Martin, LAM acquisition coordinator and Rick Walsh, FAW NR program coordinator