Campuses:
Things were simpler when Tom Landwehr was a student.
When he began studying natural resources management at the U of M back in 1973, Minnesota had fewer people, more wild land and not as many outreach programs. The public believed strongly in government’s ability to protect nature: it was a time when Earth Day was created and Congress passed the Endangered Species Act and other protective laws. His fellow students were largely from rural backgrounds and had experience camping, hunting and fishing.
Now, as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and an adjunct instructor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Landwehr (’80–B.S.; ’86–M.S., wildlife; ’01–M.B.A., business administration) faces a different set of challenges.
“Minnesotans are much more concentrated in urban areas now, and conservation has become an extremely multi-faceted arena,” he says. “At the same time, issues are so much more visible; people can organize and engage on any topic.” His agency’s high profile means managing natural resources becomes a question of managing citizens’ expectations too, he says.
While managing the state’s 5.5 million acres, 67 state parks and thousands of miles of trails, fish and wildlife populations will continue to be the agency’s bread and butter: getting more people to spend time outside is a key goal for the DNR, Landwehr says. “I’m very concerned with the trends that are showing people spend less time outdoors,” he says, “this portends a reduced level of interest in caring for our natural world.” Part of the DNR’s mandate is to reach out to citizens, and while he’s commissioner, the agency will work to encourage outdoor activity participation. Programs like “I Can Camp,” which helps beginning campers overcome obstacles such as lack of equipment or knowledge, give people the skills they need to start enjoying Minnesota’s resources at a low cost, he says. “If they do something like that and enjoy it, then their interest in the outdoors will blossom. And if you get engaged in one form of activity, chances are you will do more. “
The same trend is showing with students, he says. Some students come into his class saying they want to work in the environment, but have very little actual experience outside; much of what they know, they’ve learned by watching, not by doing. He encourages them to spend time outdoors, and to expand their academic horizons to acquire a broad range of skills if they want to influence natural resources policy.
Landwehr started his career as a wildlife biologist at the DNR, spent 17 years there in a number of roles, earned master’s degrees in natural resources and in business, and then spent 12 years working with nonprofit conservation groups—Ducks Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy—before he was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton to head the agency.
That experience in both the public and private sectors will serve him well throughout his term as commissioner, Landwehr says. “The conservation community is a continuum; everybody, whether they know it or not, has an interest in natural resources, so in this state you can have 6 million different opinions. The job of the department is to balance the need for creating wealth and providing opportunities with sustaining resources for the future.”
–Becky Beyers
