DNR remains committed to State Fair, official says

A top Department of Natural Resources official said Wednesday the agency will continue to have a presence at the Wisconsin State Fair, but on a smaller scale than in the past.

“We are not walking away from the State Fair,” Deputy Secretary Kurt Thiede told members of the Natural Resources Board in Hudson.

Thiede was responding to concerns raised by board member Preston Cole of Milwaukee about the agency’s overall communications strategy and, more specifically, its decision to turn over much of its footprint at the fairgrounds to fair authorities this year.

Cole said recent decisions to pull back the DNR’s presence at the fair and Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal in the 2017-’19 state budget to end publishing of the department’s outdoors magazine “makes us look as if we are walking away.”

“These self-inflicted wounds have got to stop,” Cole said.

While acknowledging the role of board members in such matters was only advisory, Cole stressed the importance of “touches,” or contacts, with urban and rural constituencies whose interaction with the sprawling agency might only occur at the fair or by reading Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine.

Lawmakers in the Legislature’s budget committee recently restored some of the funding for the magazine during ongoing budget deliberations.

Cole asked whether the DNR might also be considering backing out of other events such as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Show.

Cole is commissioner of the Department of Neighborhood Services for the City of Milwaukee and is a former resource forester for the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Thiede reaffirmed the agency will remain at the fair but in a smaller role this year where the department will emphasize state parks, state forests and natural areas as part of its “Go Wild” marketing strategy of celebrating Wisconsin outdoors.

DNR officials informed employees on June 15 that it was downsizing its presence at the fair, where it has had a major presence since 1948. The announcement to give up some of its 2-acre site came less than two months before the start of this year’s fair and caught some employees by surprise. The fair runs from Aug. 3-13. Thiede said the decision is an outgrowth of a major department reorganization, which was precipitated by smaller budgets and a smaller staff.

He said the agency’s strategy is to try to expose the public to the natural splendor of the state in a number of ways, including social media. He said the DNR still planned to have a presence at the sports show.

Kohler golf course. The board approved plans that will allow the DNR to begin a process to amend Kohler-Andrae State Park’s master plan, which could lead to granting Kohler Co. an easement of about 5 acres of parkland for a luxury golf course.

The 18-hole course would be located immediately north of the park in the Town of Wilson in Sheboygan County.

The proposed course on Lake Michigan has faced opposition since plans for it were first detailed in 2015.

DNR officials cautioned that the approval did not guarantee that privately held Kohler will get access to the land and that before a decision is made, the public will have a chance to weigh in.

But opponents believe Kohler — politically connected and one of the state’s largest companies — will get its way and regulators will eventually approve the entire project.

Kohler has a connection to the state property. In 1966, the company donated 280 acres to the state for the park.

The company is planning to spend at least $25 million on the course.