Outdoors:
DNR hurts mission with State Fair cuts.
WEST ALLIS - When the Natural Resources Board holds one of its meetings away from Madison, the local Department of Natural Resources staff traditionally sets up tours for the seven-member citizen group.
The idea is to showcase to the board significant properties and projects in the region.
When the NRB met last week in Milwaukee, the DNR treated them to tours of the Road Air Monitoring Station on College Avenue, Lake Vista Park in Oak Creek, Bay View Grand Trunk and the UW-Milwaukee Harbor District in Milwaukee. All worthy sites for a visit, no doubt. One gaping hole on the board’s agenda was a few miles west of the lakefront: the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis.
For 70 years, the DNR maintained a large exhibit at the state’s annual gathering.
There were fishing and hunting displays, opportunities to learn to cast a line and shoot a bow, speak to wildlife biologists and view live fish in super-sized aquariums.
Kids were also taught to prevent wildfires in Smokey’s Schoolhouse.
All were part of the major presence the DNR maintained on a 2-acre site at State Fair Park since 1948, Wisconsin’s Centennial.
None of that was available this year, however.
The 2017 edition of the DNR’s exhibit was slashed to include only endangered resources, state parks and state forests.
By the estimate of several long-time DNR employees who worked at the fair, the agency’s footprint this year was reduced by 98%.
What for seven decades had been a marquee showcase of Wisconsin’s natural resources programs was reduced to a tiny display.
So when the political appointees in the DNR staff were setting the NRB’s agenda last week in Milwaukee, it did not include a visit to State Fair Park.
That’s too bad, because it would have been a valuable opportunity for board members to hear first-hand from the public what it thought of the change.
If they spent time near the traditional site of the DNR features - as I did - they would have found themselves in a crowd of dissatisfied customers.
“I’m very, very disappointed in the decreased DNR presence,” said Mary Nold-Klett of Wauwatosa.
“The DNR building is no longer DNR. And the fish are gone!”
Nold-Klett and her husband John have three grown children and two young grandchildren.
She said the DNR exhibit had for decades been a favorite for their annual trip to the fair. She wasn’t alone: By DNR estimates, 300,000 fair-goers visited the agency’s space each year.
In a statement in June, DNR spokesman Jim Dick said the agency’s presence at the fair would focus on the state park system, state forests and state natural areas, which he described as “places we can promote as premier destinations for outdoor activities.”
The agency avoided any discussion about staff reductions, work realignments and shifting priorities.
“All the DNR executives want is to keep their employees from meeting and interacting with the public,” said Nate Baxter from South Milwaukee. “This display is terrible.”
Shiela Johnson of Waukesha said the small DNR exhibit was a “big downer” and thought it was similar to efforts by Gov. Scott Walker earlier this year to scrap the Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine. A public outcry helped keep the magazine alive - the 2017-’19 state budget now calls for it to remain in publication, but at a reduced schedule.
It’s hard to know if the Legislature or agency will care enough to restore the DNR features at the state fair.
A DNR employee was accepting comments from the public at the fair - and there were a bundle.
Among the plethora of changes at the 2017 Wisconsin State Fair - the first appearance of North America’s largest traveling Ferris wheel, a smiling sangria contest and nearly 70 new food items, including a bacon-wrapped pork shish-kabob and a cheese curds and brat taco I’m not going out on a limb when I estimate the DNR exhibit received the lowest rating.
It’s hard to know how many of the 300,000 former visitors stopped by this year and left unhappy.
But like a tree that had been nurtured for 70 years only to be whacked with an axe, the DNR’s reputation and mission was injured this year.
The chance to reach so many people, many whom the agency claims to want to recruit into outdoor activities, is priceless.
“We need more of our urban kids to learn about and get involved in outdoor activities, not fewer,” Nold-Klett said. “What a wasted opportunity.”
If you care to weigh in, send comments on the change to the DNR’s state fair exhibit to DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp at dnrsecretary@wisconsin.gov and the Natural Resources Board at laurie.ross@wisconsin.gov.