Apple Valley Resident Named to DNR Citizen Committee

John Christian of Apple Valley is one of several people named to a citizen committee that provides oversight and monitors the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' fish and wildlife spending, according to a news release.

The release says:

"The commissioner of natural resources has announced appointees to two newly created citizen oversight committees that monitor fish and wildlife spending by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The new committees, the Wildlife Oversight Committee (WOC) and the Fisheries Oversight Committee (FOC), are the result of recent legislation aimed at streamlining and improving the efficiency of long-standing citizen Game and Fish Fund oversight committees created in 1994.

The 25 citizen appointees are responsible for reviewing the agency’s annual Game and Fish Fund report. After discussions with agency leaders and others, the citizen committees write a report on their findings of this review. The FOC and the WOC begin work soon after the mid-December publication of the DNR’s Game and Fish Report for Fiscal Year 2011.

The DNR’s Game and Fish Fund is the fiscal foundation for much of the state’s natural resource management. The $90 million fund gets its revenue from the sales of hunting and fishing licenses and fish and wildlife stamps; a sales tax on lottery tickets; a reimbursement based on a federal excise tax on hunting, fishing and boating equipment; and other sources.

The fund pays for the fish, wildlife, enforcement and ecological management that support 54,000 jobs in Minnesota’s outdoor recreation and hospitality business.

Four representatives from each committee will be selected to serve on an umbrella Budgetary Oversight Committee (BOC) chaired by John Hunt, vice chair with Minnesota Trout Unlimited.

The BOC will develop recommendations for a biennial budget plan and an overall report on expenditures for game and fish activities. Those recommendations will be forwarded for further consideration to the DNR commissioner and to legislative committees with jurisdiction over natural resources financing."

Appointed by DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr are:

Fisheries Oversight Committee (FOC)
John Christian, Apple Valley; Lance Frank, Albert Lea; Marj Hart, St. Michael; Jeff Johnson, New London; John Lenczewski, Eden Prairie; Craig Pagel, Duluth; Peter Perovich, Ramsey; Charles Prokop, Hugo; Ryan Saulsbury, Baxter; John Schneider, Roseville; George Selcke, Minnetonka; Dave Thompson, Battle Lake; Pao Yang, St. Paul.

Wildlife Oversight Committee (WOC)
Kevin Bigalke, Lakeville; Jeff Byrne, Victoria; William Faber, Brainerd; Mark Jeffrey Flen, Lakeville; Cody Fox, Austin; Chuck Kartak, North Branch; Jerome Roehl, Walker; Deb Luzinski, Woodbury; Steve Okins, Willmar; Paul Spyhalski, Austin; Kong siab Thao, Little Canada;
Robert Theobald, Owatonna.