DNR employees Dennis Blumke, Daryl Arola and Jeff McDonald

Workers from the Department of Natural Resources are fighting back with a vengeance. There’s a bill to privatize and close all the state’s fish hatcheries and tree nurseries by 2014.

The authors say that private companies can do the work better than AFSCME members. That claim woke three sleeping giants: Local 718’s Daryl Arola, who has been stocking walleye in the Grand Rapids area for 30 years; Local 694’s Dennis Blumke, who has worked at the New London fishery for 28 years; and Local 1623’s Jeff McDonald, who works at the Badoura Tree Nursery in Akeley, MN.

They say that maintaining healthy lakes and forests is government’s responsibility. And they caution legislators that blind trust in the private sector will be rewarded with lower standards, cut corners and profits over mission.

During AFSCME’s Day on the Hill, Daryl Arola helped to convince all the DFL co-authors to remove themselves from the bill. His gentle, but firm persuasion, started with a simple question: “Do you want diseased lakes?” The response from Reps. Jeanne Poppe (DFL-Austin) and Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) was “Definitely not.”

“State-raised fish are disease-free when we stock them into our lakes and streams,” explains Arola. “We’re stewards of the environment and you can trust us to protect our public waters and our fishing tourism. Can you trust private vendors to do that?”

Experience shows that private hatcheries have stocked lakes with diseased fish. It was AFSCME members who cleaned up the mess by killing and replacing the diseased fish.

Dennis Blumke explains that state hatcheries do more than just raise fish. “We stock fish. We protect water quality. We’re responsible for enforcement and research. And we do the public relations and education that boosts tourism.” His testimony raised a tough question for the House Game, Fish and Forestry Division: “Do you really want to give up those services to cut costs?”

Fishing is a major industry in Minnesota with about 44,000 fishing-related jobs and $342 million in fishing-related revenue. “Don’t put fishing at risk by trusting private vendors to get the job done,” cautions Blumke.

To save state tree nurseries, Jeff McDonald delivers a similar argument. “Private vendors will only grow what people want to buy. We produce what forests need to thrive.”

The bill’s chief author, Rep. Dennis McNamara (R-Hastings), says the state shouldn’t be competing with private nurseries. AFSCME’s McDonald says the state’s nursery program isn’t designed to compete. “We grow seedlings that are native to Minnesota. We sell them at a reasonable cost that allows us to recover production and infrastructure costs. We’re not in business to turn a profit. We’re in business to help the state meet its conservation goals.”

Soil and Water Conservation Districts frequently buy seedlings grown by AFSCME members. They use them to reforest wood lots, create windbreaks, control erosion, and provide food and cover for wildlife. “Landscapers can afford to go to Bachmann’s and Schumacher’s for their trees,” explains McDonald. “But it makes sense for us to sell trees at a reasonable price to government customers.”

The privatization bill, House File 1143, has been laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus game and fish bill. That means AFSCME members will have to remain vigilant to beat back this threat.