Strategic Plan

Vision

We share responsibility as natural resources stewards with Wisconsin's citizens, governments, businesses and visitors. We recognize the air, land and water are interconnected in sustaining all life, in protecting public health and in achieving healthy, diverse ecosystems and the sustainable economies that depend on these ecosystems. We recognize that forestry, farming and nature-based recreation like hunting, fishing and trapping are key to the state's economy and quality of life. We value our dedicated staff and provide them with the tools and training needed to ensure that Wisconsin has the best-managed natural resources in the world.

Goals

The following goals and strategies reflect the department's approach to carrying out its mission and vision. We promote open and collaborative relationships among those who value the state's natural resources; we protect the health and safety of people, wildlife and natural communities that depend on those resources; and we promote opportunities to enjoy and benefit from natural resources in ways that are consistent with protection of the environment.

I. Making People Our Strength

From Our Mission Statement:

To work with people
to understand each other's views
and to carry out the public will.
And in this partnership
consider the future
and generations to follow.

The Goal

People, organizations and officials work together to provide Wisconsin with healthy, sustainable ecosystems. In partnership with all publics we find innovative ways to set priorities, accomplish tasks and evaluate successes to keep Wisconsin in the forefront of environmental quality and science-based management.

The Strategies

1. Involve individuals, businesses, governments, tribes and organizations in managing natural resources and protecting human and wildlife health, by sharing knowledge, responsibility, decision-making, recognition, and costs.
2. Provide leadership, information, education, technical assistance, and outreach so that people can make informed environmental decisions and be actively involved in setting local and statewide priorities.
3. Increase environmental compliance and performance through pollution prevention, education, technological advances and assistance and enforcement of natural resource laws.
4. Engage in national and international resource policy development and research and work with other governments to protect, sustain and restore our shared ecosystems.
5. Build inter-governmental partnerships to ensure cost-effective and consistent regulations and protection of the environment and people.
6. Continue to recruit, build and retain a diverse staff of committed, conscientious and skilled individuals.
7. Find and develop ways to enable department employees, together with our external partners, to fulfill the department's mission by: working across disciplines; seeking innovative ways to improve services; keeping abreast of technological advances; and exercising appropriate leadership.
8. Recognize and consider the short and long-term environmental, social and economic implications of department regulations and management decisions.
9. Work with educators to develop the leadership, communication and technological skills our employees need for the future.
10. Provide and promote information and education to help achieve Wisconsin's environmental and natural resources goals and vision.

II. Sustaining Ecosystems

From Our Mission Statement:

To protect and enhance our natural resources:
our air, land and water;
our wildlife, fish and forests
and the ecosystems that sustain all life.
To provide a healthy, sustainable environment

The Goal

The state's ecosystems are balanced and diverse. They are protected, managed and used through sound decisions that reflect long-term considerations for a healthy environment and a sustainable economy.

The Strategies

1. Use planning and management methods that address the connection between pollution problems on land, in water and in air.
2. Use planning and management methods that maintain, protect and enhance productive and sustainable forests, fisheries, wildlife and other harvestable natural resources.
3. Prevent and, where practical clean up pollution of soil, water and air to ensure the stability of ecosystems, using innovative, cost effective voluntary or enforcement methods.
4. Maintain and restore terrestrial, wetland and aquatic ecosystems that support diverse flora and fauna, and that provide landscape scale ecosystem functions from flood control to groundwater recharge.
5. Protect and, where practical, reestablish endangered resources and habitats and work to eradicate or control harmful, non-native species.
6. Protect ecosystems through acquisition of land, easements or other innovative strategies.
7. Meet, and where possible exceed, the public vision for an environment that supports sustained economic, ecological, aesthetic, recreational, agricultural, and other uses.
8. Determine and plan for long-term state water quality and quantity needs to ensure ecosystem integrity, sustained development and economic stability.
9. Provide the tools, information and incentives needed for governments, people and their organizations to make environmentally sound land use and land management decisions that protect ecosystems and improve quality of life.
10. Promote reduction, reuse and recycling of consumer goods.

III. Protecting Public Health and Safety

From Our Mission:

To provide a healthy, sustainable environment
and a full range of outdoor opportunities.
To ensure the right of all people
to use and enjoy these resources
in their work and leisure.

The Goal

Our lands, surface waters, groundwater and air are safe for humans and other living things that depend upon them. People are protected by natural resources laws in their livelihoods and recreation.

The Strategies

1. Achieve soil, surface water, groundwater, and air quality levels that protect the health of all living things, and meet or exceed state and federal standards for all pollutants.
2. Develop comprehensive monitoring and risk assessment capabilities for selecting appropriate environmental controls for soils, water and air.
3. Identify the most significant threats to soil, water and air quality, implement policies and practices to reduce or eliminate those threats, and restore contaminated soils, water, and air to levels that protect the health of all living things.
4. Ensure that the state's fish and game are safe for human and wildlife consumption.
5. Provide adequate supplies of clean drinking water.
6. Protect people and their communities from flooding, dam failures, forest and wild fires, and the release of hazardous substances.
7. Use education and enforcement to protect public health, safety, and the environment.

IV. Providing Outdoor Recreation

From Our Mission:

To provide a healthy, sustainable environment
and a full range of outdoor opportunities.
To ensure the right of all people
to use and enjoy these resources
in their work and leisure.

The Goal

Our citizens and visitors enjoy outdoor recreation and have access to a full range of nature-based outdoor recreational opportunities.

The Strategies

1. Ensure access to public lands, waters and recreational opportunities for people of all ages and abilities.
2. Develop and maintain a high-quality system of state forests, parks, trails, educational facilities, boating access sites, natural areas, and fish and wildlife properties that support a variety of nature-based recreational pursuits.
3. Manage to provide diverse, healthy plant, fish and wildlife populations in sufficient numbers to support quality hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering.
4. Anticipate, evaluate and provide new recreational pursuits that are safe and compatible with healthy ecosystems.
5. Enrich the outdoor experience and encourage natural resources stewardship by enhancing awareness and appreciation of the natural world -- its beauty, complexity, and capacity for renewal -- as well as outdoor ethics, safety, and respect for nature in all circumstances.
6. Promote responsible hunting, fishing, trapping, camping and other outdoor recreational skills and activities to assure these traditions are preserved for future generations.
7. Increase outdoor recreational opportunities in urban areas, and promote outdoor recreational opportunities state-wide for youth, disabled and nontraditional participants.
8. Provide leadership in long-term planning for statewide outdoor recreational needs and in resolving outdoor recreational conflicts.
9. Promote and improve recreational opportunities on state waters and on public and private lands through partnerships with people, governments, tribes, businesses and other organizations.

Our Values

In meeting the goals and carrying out the strategies of this plan, we will build upon the following values as a philosophy for how we do business.

Manage Natural Resources As Ecosystems

We recognize the synergy of air, land and water and how each contributes to defining the places in Wisconsin we call home. We consider the needs of local ecosystems, and the social and economic needs of the people living in them, in all our decisions, to assure the highest possible quality of life in our state.

Respect People

We serve the people of the state, treating them as we want to be treated, using fair and open processes and working with them as partners in protecting the environment. We appreciate the diversity of our society and strive to reflect that diversity in out work force. We respect the differing values held by our publics. We recognize that human needs for economic and cultural security are tied to a high quality environment.

Share Responsibility

We work in partnership with people, a wide variety of public and private organizations, and with governments at all levels to share the responsibility for managing Wisconsin's natural resources.

Value Our Employees

Employees are the department's single most important asset. Each employee brings to the organization important knowledge, a commitment to serve the public and the state's natural resources, and a strong desire to learn, grow and contribute. We strive to provide the financial, technological and other resources and management support for employees to be effective in their jobs. We foster a spirit of pride in our employees and the quality of their work. We involve them in decision-making, are open and candid with them, and encourage creative thinking, problem-solving and intelligent questions. We invest time and training to maintain and to continue to develop an internationally respected staff, and we cultivate and reward employee innovation and initiative. We care about our employees and their needs, recognize them for their efforts, and find ways to improve the quality of their work life.

Work Together

We appreciate the power of collective knowledge. People from different disciplines -- both within and outside the department -- share their expertise, skills and the best available scientific knowledge to search for sound solutions and make informed decisions. We respect the work and goals of the department and our peers, and support and value each other as colleagues who share in the great endeavor of understanding and protecting our ecosystem.

Respect the Earth

We seek harmony with our ecosystem, the interconnected web of natural processes supporting life on this planet. We strive to set a good example by the way we protect and manage all living things in or on the air, land and water under our stewardship.

Prevent Environmental Harm

We anticipate and prevent damage to the environment and develop processes and policies to protect our resources and the well-being of the public. We help people, business, industry and local governments ensure that their activities will not harm the environment. When problems occur, the state's resolve is certain; we use enforcement as one of many tools to intervene on behalf of our citizens and natural resources.

Hold Ourselves Accountable

We reaffirm our commitment to future generations as we carry out our mission. We continually refine management approaches and systems to achieve cost-effective, efficient and sustainable outcomes. We set clear objectives, evaluate our progress, and hold ourselves accountable for achieving our objectives.

Assure Quality Management

We use continuous quality improvement techniques in implementing our plans and policies: We plan, implement, check for problems and opportunities for improvement, and incorporate needed changes, knowing that flexibility is needed to accommodate the changing issues and needs of the people and resources.

Adapt to Future Needs

DNR must adapt and respond to Wisconsin's future needs and will accomplish that in part by making this Strategic Plan a living, breathing document that we refer to often and evolve as natural resources and environmental needs and the will of the people direct.