I’m convinced the candidates you vote for this November could determine the future of the timber industry, mining, and multiple use of forest land in northeastern Minnesota. This past weekend, I visited the Grand Rapids’ annual Tall Timber Days celebration. There I met old and new acquaintances and made a point to visit UPM Blandin’s tent. I introduced myself as having worked with the Blandin legal staff on matters associated with the Blandin Dam, and the Blandin Forestry staff on matters associated with getting permits and temporary easements for trout stream habitat projects on Blandin land. On Sunday, I watched the Tall Timber Days parade and saw that both political parties were represented. But I was most impressed by the logging truck from Bigfork, filled with pulpwood and blowing its airhorn, and proudly displaying its GOP banners. The pulp truck was probably heading to UPM Blandin’s scaling shack for weighing and payment. I’m a retired DNR employee who considered myself a public servant, not a DNR pawn, nor a supporter of a big government, like we have in Minnesota with its current DFL trifecta.
In my career, I was expected to meet with DNR Area Forestry staff in northeastern Minnesota for forest management planning. The planning was required to ensure that the DNR followed the 1991 Wetland Conservation Act, 1972 Clean Water Act, protection of rare features, etc. Because of our consensus building, DNR foresters were legally allowed to sell state stumpage to loggers, who would sell the wood to UPM Blandin or other pulp mills. In November, I’m voting for the party that is pro-strong military, pro-law enforcement, pro-life, pro-mining, pro-USA, pro-capitalism, and unequivocally pro-Israel.
David G. Holmbeck
Grand Rapids