Help develop future funding model to manage our natural resources for generations to come
 The DNR is embarking on a transformational effort, in collaboration with Minnesotans, to identify a new funding framework to ensure that the DNR can serve new, returning, and long-time outdoor enthusiasts, and sustainably manage our natural resources for generations to come.
Minnesotans will be co-creators in a vision for what is possible for the future of conservation and outdoor recreation. The approach will include diverse perspectives and focus on serving all Minnesotans equitably. It will allow the DNR to manage in a more holistic manner while being adaptable to changing conditions. As with any funding source, accountability is a fundamental value.
The best way to stay informed about public input opportunities and project updates is to sign up for the project email list (link is external).
You can also visit the project’s engagement page, Investing in Minnesota’s Outdoor Resources, to explore current opportunities to share your input.
Learn more in this video message from DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen.
Important update on 2022 DNR Roundtable
For more than 30 years, the annual DNR Roundtable has brought together individuals, organizations, and government representatives who are interested in conservation issues such as fisheries, wildlife, and ecological and water resources management.
While long-time DNR Roundtable attendees and staff are accustomed to the event being held in January, we are going to do things a little differently in 2022. Although we had hoped to return to an in-person event this January, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and the emerging Omicron variant make it imprudent to host a large gathering at this time.
In response, the 2022 Roundtable will be rescheduled for late spring or early summer in the hopes of having a better opportunity for some level of an in-person event. This change reflects feedback from participants who really value the in-person opportunities that Roundtable offers.
While we are disappointed by the delay, the additional time gives us an opportunity to hear from partners about how we can continue to improve and evolve Roundtable, while still preserving the original spirit, intent, and values of the event.
The project team will hold a Roundtable focus group in January to gather this feedback. The DNR Roundtable webpage will include updates as plans take shape, and it hosts videos from last year’s event.
 MCV staffers pick their favorite
Volunteer stories from 2021
 Catching Waves. Photo credit: Christian Dalbec.
Despite another challenging pandemic year, MCV continued to publish powerful, engaging stories about the outdoors. For proof, check out this list of staff favorites.
KEITH GOETZMAN, deputy editor
“Flight Plan” by Emily Sohn, May–June 2021
“This story was filled with great reporting, anecdotes, and analysis that showed how airborne drones can both help and harm Minnesota wild places and wildlife. It was a fun read encompassing both high tech and the natural world.”
JILL ANDERSON, marketing and circulation director
“Write, Sketch, Explore” by Mary Hoff, Sept.–Oct. 2021
“The instructional elements in this Young Naturalists story give students what they need to be successful at keeping a nature journal.”
JULIE FORSTER, associate editor
“The Wolves Next Door” by Mike Koshmrl, May–June 2021
“A deeply reported, up-close look at what happened when a wolf pack moved into a human-populated area close to the Twin Cities. The author's background as an environmental reporter who has reported extensively on wolves in Yellowstone National Park adds credibility to his storytelling on this topic.”
LYNN, PHELPS, art director
“Catching Waves” by Christian Dalbec, May–June 2021
“In this photo essay featuring Christian Dalbec’s Lake Superior wave shots, the images really tell the story.”
CHRIS CLAYTON, editor-in-chief
“Casting into the Past” by Youa Vang, Sept.–Oct. 2021
“Writer Youa Vang dives deep into the important role that the white bass plays in Minnesota’s Hmong communities.”
Read more stories in the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer.
DNR Central Office earns back-to-back awards
 The DNR Central Office building in St. Paul.
The DNR Central Office and our building management company Colliers recently received an Energy Star achievement award for 2020 and 2021.
Energy Star looks at three basic benchmarks for energy use: gas, electricity,
and water. The rating is based on a 0 to 100 scale and we achieved an average of 95 rating for all three energy benchmarks.
Here are a few highlights:
- We worked with Colliers over the last couple of years to convert to LED lighting when a project or repair allowed an update. Some of our lighting is being set up to take advantage of daylight harvesting from the exterior windows.
- We implemented a building automations systems which includes Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) in our heating and cooling units. These adjust their motor speeds and typically result in a 10 to 50% energy savings.
- We upgrade HVAC units to more efficient models when a major repair or replacement is deemed appropriate. We also program and cycle the units to be more energy efficient.
 Learn more about the Energy Star program.
 On family plans, $70 reduced deductible
applies only to employee’s expenses
Employees enrolled in the Minnesota Advantage health plan were eligible for a $70 reduced deductible by completing healthy activities and earning 300 points by Oct. 31.
A similar program will start again in January.
If you earned the $70 reduced deductible this year and have other family members on your health plan, be aware of the following:
- In order for the $70 reward to be applied to your deductible, you will personally need to incur expenses before your family member expenses fulfill the family deductible.
- Two state employees enrolled in the same plan: If you and a spouse or dependent are covered on the same plan, only the employee who is the policy holder qualifies for the $70 reward.
- Learn more about eligibility in the FAQ.
Visit the State Employee Group Insurance Program Health and Wellbeing website for details and information on additional benefits. Contact Laura Grunloh or Chrissy Eck with questions.
Registration deadlines approaching
for Green Belt training
Green Belt training prepares staff to lead process improvement projects. We are holding two sessions this year: Winter (January – April 2022) or Spring (April – July 2022).
Enrollment is open until Tuesday, Dec. 28, for the winter session. Deadline to enroll for the spring session is April 5.
Trainees will participate in 10 half-days of training (approximately 40 hours) via Microsoft Teams and complete a project. Candidates will earn a certificate after presenting their final projects and passing the course exam. Cost per person is $3,000.
Visit the Continuous Improvement intranet page for details on dates and enrollment instructions. If interested, please talk with your supervisor first. Contact Laura Grunloh with any questions. You may also review this previous Spotlight article about our most recent Green Belt cohort.
Info Center - 2021 in review
 Barb Hoverman at the DNR Info Center in November 2019 when DNR staff were still working in Central Office in St. Paul.
By Barb Hoverman, DNR customer service specialist
Well, things are beginning to return to normal in the Info Center – or what passes for normal, anyway. Our call numbers have begun to drop off a bit after the COVID influx, but the variety is still always something to wonder at.
Some of our favorite calls from 2021 are shared below.
NUISANCE ANIMALS
- An aggressive goose built a nest with eggs right next to the door where 200 inmates go in and out of the federal prison twice a day. What do we do?
- I caught a skunk in a live trap, but I never thought about what to do if I caught one.....help!
- Dogs or wolves are stalking me. I hear them growling and howling at me when I go to the mailbox.
FOR THE LOVE OF WILDLIFE
- I feed the bears on my property and I don't plan to stop; however, the bears have torn down my screen door twice this week!
- I just saw a mountain lion in St. Paul by Mickey's Diner.
- I have a wolf in my backyard in Austin and I want to domesticate it and keep it as a pet. Is this legal?
NOT MY JURISDICTION
- My lakeshore has black dust that kicks up when I walk. What's that from? I'm in Lapeer County, Michigan.
- There are foxes in my yard but I'm in Hawaii. What can I do?
- Does the DNR have a training course on how to handle pythons?
OOPS
- My boyfriend was using my car when he got caught poaching deer and they took the car. How do I get it back?
- A buck just charged us while we were hunting. My dog scared him off, but I'd like to talk to a CO about the legality of shooting in self-defense. (Maybe ask him about the legality of having the dog with you too.)
- I saw a deer and wanted to get closer, so I drove my car onto a snowmobile trail and now I'm stuck 2 miles off the road. Can someone come help me?
"YOU PEOPLE"
- There are a bunch of 3" holes on the outside of my ice house. Was a conservation officer trying to spy on me?
- I’m going to sue the state of Minnesota for not managing the deer population because my son hit a deer this weekend and it's the DNR’s fault!!
- I'm going to complain to someone about this bear lottery. I was denied a license and I know there aren't enough computers at the DNR to handle 35 licenses in two and a half minutes!! I'm going to try some legal action.
EEEEWWW
- My son's deer is full of foamy yellow pus. Should we eat it?
- I found hawk parts hung up in a tree and my friend told me that’s the first sign of a serial killer!
JUST GOTTA ASK
- Can I ride a snowmobile on state land where the sign says, “No motorized vehicles?”
- I am looking to fund my future college expenses. How much are coyote pelts selling for these days?
LICENSING ISSUES
- My daughter changed her residency to get in-state tuition in Utah. Can she get Minnesota resident rates for a turkey hunting license?
- The vendor refused to sell me a $2.50 disease management tag because they said I have to prove the deer is infected with CWD before I can use it.
MY NEIGHBORS
- People are racing golf carts and a Porsche too close to the lake (put money on the Porsche.)
- My neighbors six houses down are throwing their dog waste onto the State Trail and into the WMA and I'm afraid it will wash into my yard!
More favorite info calls are available here.
 Meet Isaiah Tolo, DNR fish health supervisor
 Isaiah Tolo with a carp.
By David Schueller, Fish and Wildlife Division information officer
Isaiah Tolo’s work can resemble a fisheries version of the show CSI. He spends much of his time analyzing fish samples from across the state in a DNR Central Office laboratory with a science-themed Far Side comic taped on the door directly beneath a biohazard sign. It’s a place that seems to proclaim, “scientists work here.”
Tolo directs work there as the new DNR fish health supervisor. His list of professional achievements, and the little-known fact that he’s younger than some of the carp he’s sliced open, might lead one to think he had his career trajectory figured out early in life.
By his own account, that is not quite true. But he attributes his career path from a general interest in biology and parasitology, to what he calls dream-come-true work at the DNR with experts in fisheries and wildlife, to his earliest memories fishing and spending time outdoors.
“I’m only the second person in my family to graduate from college and the first to pursue a graduate degree. So the whole academic track was kind of a mystery to me but I knew I wanted something in the biological sciences,” Tolo said.
That interest in biology got its spark from a particular fishing trip in Minnesota as kid.
“It’s like electricity, the first time as a kid you go fishing and feel a bite,” Tolo said.
An early connection to animals and the outdoors stuck with him, and he kept building on it, to the point that he was raising tilapia and trout in his living room while working on a master’s degree in microbiology and population genetics.
Tolo gained valuable experience in undergraduate research opportunities in college, including studying pathogens of wild fish and saltwater shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico and was eventually drawn back home to Minnesota to pursue a Ph.D. in Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota.
“There’s something special about Minnesota when it comes to the attention and value that Minnesotans place on the outdoors,” Tolo said.
Prior to coming to the DNR, as Tolo settled into a new role in fish health and aquatic invasive species research, he found himself on the shores of Minnesota lakes identifying viruses associated with massive die-offs of carp.
Through this work he developed relationships with talented academic scientists at the University of Minnesota, including those at the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center and the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
He also collaborated with DNR fish health staff including Ling Shen, who retired from the position he now holds, Tim Monahan, a bacteriologist in the DNR pathology lab, plus DNR fisheries biologists.
Now as the DNR fish health supervisor, Tolo directs the DNR Fish Pathology Lab, provides leadership on fish health matters, leads DNR’s involvement in the Minnesota Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program, and coordinates and conducts fish health inspections and fish kill investigations.
It’s a wide variety of work, with some of the most visible tasks involving fish die-offs. Tolo helps coordinate with area fisheries staff on the detective work of getting samples for the lab. With samples in the lab, he and others perform the forensic work of fish necropsies and getting to the bottom of whatever is ailing a fish population.
Other aspects of his work involve managing the threat of disease to Minnesota’s state and private fish hatcheries, and wild fisheries. This work intersects with fish transportation, fish stocking, aquaculture and live bait regulations, sampling for fish contaminants and efforts to limit spread of aquatic invasive species.
When asked what he does for work, especially by anglers, Tolo said: “Well, I work for you! I’m a service to you, helping to uncover and mitigate the risks to the resource you love while balancing everybody’s freedom to enjoy it.”
|
 Work location: DNR Central Office
Job title: Fish health supervisor
Joined DNR: June 2021
Education: Ph.D. candidate in Conservation Sciences at the University of Minnesota, Master’s degree in microbiology and population genetics from the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Hobbies: Hunting and fishing on public land in Minnesota, cooking and gardening at home. Also a huge fan of all-things science fiction.
Something that might surprise your colleagues: Tolo is also an ultra-trail-marathon runner with several 50K races under his belt.
Sunrise in northeastern Minnesota
 Sunrise in the Grand Marais harbor in northeastern Minnesota.
- Cheri M. Zeppelin, Northeast regional information officer
Editor's note: If you have a photo you like to submit for consideration for the Minnesota Moment section, please send to newsletter.dnr@state.mn.us Editor will make final decision which photos appear in this section.
|
