Looking for Leaders!
Article by Jaimé Thibodeaux, Minnesota Forest Resources Council, Landscape Program Coordinator
The Minnesota Forest Resources Council is inviting interested landowners to participate in regional committees in the West and East Central parts of Minnesota’s forests. The Minnesota Forest Resources Council (MFRC) is a 17-member board created to develop policy recommendations to the Governor and federal, state, and local governments and to encourage the adoption of sustainable forest management policies and practices.
The MFRC regional landscape committees provides an “all lands” framework for collaboration on forestry and related natural resource issues. Regional committees help inform and coordinate stakeholders within a forested region of the state and provide critical local feedback to the council on issues for their region.
“The landscape committees are a novel way for local folks to give their two cents on topics being discussed at the state level. Often topics that they know because they’re seeing it first-hand on the ground and may be impacted most by policy decisions.” -James Aasen, MFRC Northern Regional Landscape Committee Chair.
Both the East and West Central Committees have not met for a few years, and we are excited to see them get back up and running! With the new start we are inviting new members and stakeholders in each region to participate. A map of the regions are below. As private landowners (and women!) you have a unique perspective to add to the discussion. Regional Committees typically meet quarterly, and most meetings have a virtual option.
West Central Committee will be meeting August 22nd at the New York Mills Government Center
From 9:30am-2:30pm. If you plan to attend, please RSVP online by August 18th so that we may include you in our lunch order. A virtual option will also be available. We will be discussing the Minnesota Million Acre Initiative, a large tree planting pilot project in the area, and ways we can all collaborate.
The East Central Committee is meeting on August 29th via zoom from 1:30-3:30. We will be getting an overview of the committee’s freshly minted regional landscape plan and a new project to inventory Minnesota’s Forests across the state. For meeting details please visit our website calendar of events.
You can learn more information about MFRC and our role in shaping sustainable forest management in Minnesota on our website https://mn.gov/frc/. All committee and council meetings are open to the public. The home page has our meeting schedule with details for each meeting on our calendar of events. We hope to see you there!
If you have any questions or have trouble finding meeting details, feel free to reach out to the landscape program coordinator Jaimé Thibodeaux at 218-553-1522 or jaime.thibodeaux@state.mn.us.