Scenes from the Minnesota State Fair
 Photo credit: Toujer Moua
Connecting People to the Outdoors
The DNR building and grounds at the Minnesota State Fair (Aug. 25 to Sept. 5) have been drawing thousands of visitors daily to hear the presentations and bands, have a moment of relaxation by the fish pond, learn about Minnesota's natural resources and more.
Providing all of these activities and information to fairgoers for the run of the Fair requires an immense amount of preparation and work behind the scenes. DNR staff (especially State Fair Coordinator Dawn Bahajak) and volunteers have dedicated
hours of their time to create a unique attraction for State Fair visitors and help
connect people with the outdoors.
Part of the State Fair promotion comes from Twin Cities media outlets who highlight some of
the most popular attractions
and activities at the
DNR building and grounds.
DNR staff have been incredibly responsive in setting up and conducting interviews with media
to promote the DNR's work
and draw in visitors — thank you!
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If you haven't had a chance to make it to the State Fair yet or want to relive the memories, check out this video of how the fair has been going so far
from videographer Yoshi Katagiri:
Use DNR templates for your documents
 If you're creating a document in Word, Excel or PowerPoint, start out by using the DNR templates. The templates feature the DNR brand and are the best choice to convey consistency and professionalism. They also are pre-formatted for accessibility, so you'll be able to spend less time formatting documents and remediating them for accessibility.
There are different templates for different uses, such as agendas, meeting minutes, letterheads and more in Word. For PowerPoint and Excel, the one DNR template contains a variety of slide and cell options. For PC users, these templates are pre-loaded into the Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs. To see them:
- Open up the program you want to use
- On the left side of the window, select "New"
- Under "Shared" on the main panel of the window, look for the DNR templates for Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Mac users will need to download the templates from the Intranet. For more information, check out the DNR document templates page of the Intranet.
 As the summer winds down, conservation officers are spending increasing amounts of time answering questions from hunters and checking bear baits. They continue monitoring boaters and off-highway vehicle riders, and have spent lots of time at Game Fair, the State Fair and county fairs.
The following are several highlights from the weekly Conservation Office reports.
Aug. 29, 2022
CO Mike Fairbanks (Deer River) monitored bear baiting, checked anglers and investigated TIP complaints. Fairbanks and his K9 partner Si also assisted the police department and provided a K9 demonstration at the State Fair.
CO Jim Guida (Brainerd East) fielded a call regarding a bag of dumped, partially cleaned, bluegills at the end of a driveway. The caller was disgusted by the waste. Guida responded to a call from someone who observed individuals cutting a large number of cattails from a property adjacent to public water. Upon a site inspection, the contractor wasn’t listed on the permit, was observed using an illegal method of cutting, and was exceeding what was originally allowed. A cease-and-desist order was issued along with an accompanying citation.
CO Dan Starr (Onamia) continued to monitor nuisance-bear activity and authorize nuisance-bear permit validations. An ATV rider was observed riding at a high speed late at night right up divided Highway 169. The ATV rider, who had a passenger, was going more than 60 miles per hour, passing cars, and driving very carelessly. Upon stopping the ATV rider, Starr found an intoxicated 15-year-old operator with a felony warrant. DUI charges are pending and the 14-year-old passenger was safely sent home.
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Aug. 22, 2022
CO Chad Thesing (Albany) gave assistance to an immature northern goshawk that flew into a St. Cloud Fire Department building. A scissors lift was used to get to the top of the building as the hawk was trying to get out of a closed window. The hawk was caught with gloves and then released to fly off outside of the building.
CO Meng Moua (Spring Valley) focused on fishing, kayaking, and ATV activities. The Root River was busy with kayakers, with a handful commenting about the Root River being one of the few places they didn’t have to get out to drag their kayak every so often.
RTO Amber Ladd (North Metro) assisted with Academy training at Camp Ripley and did the law talk for a firearms safety class in Aitkin County. Ladd also continued work on a background investigation and some informational videos for firearm safety instructors.
Participate in healthy activities by Oct. 31
to earn $70 off your deductible in 2023
 Challenge yourself to participate in healthy activities, track your progress, and earn 300 points by Oct. 31 to get $70 off your deductible in 2023. For more information, check out the MMB State Employee Group Insurance Program (SEGIP) website.
To track and earn points:
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Create an account using the Virgin Pulse website.
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Complete activities to earn points. View the full list of eligible activities, which include receiving a COVID-19 vaccine or boosters or flu shot, completing the health assessment survey, participating in mindfulness activities, tracking your steps and attending a wellbeing webinar.
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Collect 300 points before Oct. 31: Not sure where your points total currently stands? Login to your Virgin Pulse account and select “Home” and then “Rewards,” to see your point total.
Participation and eligibility:
All benefit-eligible employees have access to Virgin Pulse and can participate in the wellbeing program. However, only active employees enrolled in the Advantage Health Plan are eligible for the reward of a $70 reduced deductible in 2023. The reward is not available to employees enrolled in the Advantage High Deductible Plan.
Questions?
Visit the Wellbeing Program and Reward FAQ page for more information. Data privacy is a common question. Data are managed by Virgin Pulse, an external vendor. Your data is secure and private. Only you will have access to your protected health information in accordance with privacy laws. No personal details will be shared with DNR or SEGIP.
Contact Laura Grunloh if you have additional questions. For more information about DNR Wellbeing, visit the wellbeing page on the Intranet. Employees can use lunch and break times to participate in wellbeing activities and can seek supervisor approval for any additional time.
Looking for professional development?
Find free seminars and networking via
the Performance Excellence Network
 Learning and networking opportunities are available to all DNR and MNIT at DNR staff through our agency membership with the Performance Excellence Network.
The DNR’s membership includes access to free bi-weekly online professional development seminars to support staff development in improvement methods and innovation (at no cost). DNR Continuous Improvement staff host a debrief session on Teams following each seminar for DNR employees to network and discuss application to our work.
Click to request to join the DNR Continuous Improvement group on Microsoft Teams to receive notifications and registration details of seminars and other continuous improvement learning opportunities.
Past seminars have focused on the following topics: effective communication in changing work environments, managing change, best practices in managing a team, increasing resiliency under stress, and mitigating unconscious bias.
Contact Laura Grunloh or Yengmy Thao with any questions. Visit the Continuous Improvement Intranet page to learn more about continuous improvement at DNR.
Red River Basin Coordinator Andrew Graham
 Red River Basin Coordinator Andrew Graham (left) works in the field with colleagues. Photo credit: Janet Nelson
A career in managing water resources
By Kristi Coughlon, regional information officer
We’ve all heard the saying “Water is Life.” Andrew Graham, Red River Basin coordinator, will tell you that while this is true, water can create “really messy and complicated” situations. Some situations can be costly and damaging to Minnesota’s lands and communities.
Overland flooding, for example, is a force to be reckoned with, but Andrew enjoys the challenge. He works closely with nine watershed districts and DNR staff throughout the Red River Basin in the northwest region to plan, develop and fund flood resiliency projects. His work involves juggling projects and managing the diverse and complex tasks that accompany them.
As a kid, Andrew, his brothers and their friends ranged the neighborhoods and wooded hills on the fringes of Austin, Texas on their bikes — from sunrise to sunset. They explored the springs, seeps and beautiful turquoise-colored creeks and pools in the limestone Hill Country. Such landscape provided a cool refuge on a hot Texas day.
“With every journey, I became increasingly intrigued with how water interacts with the natural world,” he said.
Such a fascination for the “behavior” of water transformed into 30 years of working as a water resource planner and project manager in the private consulting field, mostly in the state of Washington. His responsibilities included working with irrigation districts in near-desert situations in eastern Washington, to balancing water needs with salmon restoration, to working on water conservation plans with big cities
like Seattle and Tacoma.
In 2019, Andrew joined the DNR as the Red River Basin coordinator, a position that requires a forward-thinking approach and impeccable skills in project management. He is charged with coordinating an inter-agency, multiple stakeholder group called the Red River Basin Flood Damage Reduction Work Group. This group meets quarterly and provides guidance for integrating flood resiliency with ecological enhancement throughout the Red River Basin. He also keeps DNR management informed of a range of related events and developments as they occur.
Andrew will tell you that it is “all about communication” among the districts and DNR staff in multiple divisions. It’s a priority for him to ensure the districts and their local project teams can easily access the DNR’s technical expertise with regards to permitting and ecological enhancements for the projects he coordinates for the agency.
“The idea is to anticipate and resolve permitting challenges long before they actually submit permit applications for these projects,” Andrew said.
Andrew also recognizes the importance of communicating with those outside of the Red River Basin who can supply critical resources and funding for these projects. He is currently working with partners on a newsletter for county-elected officials, landowners, legislators and the public. He also organizes an annual conference on flooding and flood resiliency projects in the Red River Basin.
“It’s vital that our local communities, landowners and elected representatives understand the continued challenges of flooding and changing hydrology in northwest Minnesota,” he said.
Andrew’s best experiences on the job are when he is able to distill really messy and complicated situations and rearrange them in an orderly scheme that brings clarity and makes the situation more manageable. He finds a lot of opportunities to take this kind of approach with the varying projects he manages. Along the way, he learns a ton about the resources that the DNR manages, works with smart and dedicated people and sees meaningful results on the ground. He said he finds his work extremely rewarding.
Away from water, Andrew finds dabbling in prairie restoration and enjoying its benefits rewarding as well. Thirty-five years ago, he converted a three-acre hay field on family land to tallgrass prairie.
“Our whole family enjoys visiting the site, which has thrived over the years and is spreading into the adjacent meadows that we’ve never seeded,” he said. “It’s exciting to watch something you created grow and thrive.”
Much like his work in the Red River Basin!
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 Name: Andrew Graham
Work location: Detroit Lakes
Job title: Red River Basin coordinator
Education: BA in geology, Carleton College, Minnesota; Master in Public Policy (MPP), Harvard Kennedy School, Massachusetts
Joined the DNR: 2019
Hobbies: Woodworking, reading, birdwatching, hiking, canoeing and generally being out in the natural world.
What some people might not know about me: “My family has deep connections to Brazil starting with missionary grandparents who lived and worked there for decades. My father didn’t see the U.S. until he was a teenager. I lived in Rio de Janeiro for a year in the 1970s and have traveled all around Brazil. The children in the next generation of the family have picked up the tradition as well.”
On the hunt for agates
 Photo credit: Toujer Moua
Children take part in one of the agate hunts at the DNR buildings and grounds at the Minnesota State Fair. The agate hunt is a new event at the Fair this year.
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