03/13/2000 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • } identified and selected by regional management teams, would have the interest, skills, and experience to spend part oftheir time serving as interdisciplinary community liaisons. DNR liaisons would provide a means for local land use decision makers -to tell us what information and services they need to make the best decisions. These staff would also be provided with targeted training opportunities to better understand and serve the needs of local units of government, and to enhance relevant skills. 18) Redirect efforts of selected DNR area, region, and St. Paul staff to provide efficient delivery of information and technical assistance to local communities. This would involve identifying specialists and task forces that can provide assistance on specific topics (e.g., GIS services, interpretation of Natural Heritage information, hydrologic analysis, wildlife population dynamics, wildfire hazard reduction) that can be on call when needed in a community. 19) Provide DNR support for funding the Urban Development GEIS. If the Urban Development GEIS is not funded, collaborate with other state agencies (e.g., Minnesota Planning, PCA, BWSR, Agriculture) to assess the impacts of different development patterns on environmental and natural resource conditions. Appendix 1. DNR's Role in Smart Growth Why DNR Cares About Smart Growth Smart growth is fundamentally about bringing people together to obtain the greatest societal.benefit from land use decisions. Although most land use decisions are made at the local level, state agencies also play a vital role in the land use decision making process, and have the potential to play a more constructive, collaborative role than they do at present. Because growth is directly dependent on natural resources (e.g., land, water, aggregate resources, minerals, timber), and DNR is the state agency with primary responsibility for conserving those resources, DNR has amajor interest in smart growth. DNR also has major responsibility for protecting other natural resources (e.g., fish and wildlife, natural areas) and providing outdoor recreational opportunities that influence and are affected by growth (e.g., in state parks, state trails and waterways, state forests, and other lands). At present, many local land use decisions are resulting in unnecessary loss of diverse natural habitats, degradation of surface and groundwater systems, decreased availability of future water supplies, and reduced access to recreational areas and commercial resources like timber and minerals. The Governor's Smart Growth Initiative provides DNR and other state agencies with an opportunity to develop a shared common vision about how growth should proceed in Minnesota from a statewide perspective, with more focus on conserving natural resources and protecting the environment. As an agency responsible, for sustaining the environmental, economic, and social benefits and values Minnesotans desire, DNR is in a pivotal position to contribute to this initiative. 5