I have been appointed to the Natural Resource Agency Task Force. A group tasked with reviewing the various natural resource agencies in state government and thinking about the way they deliver services to their constituents.

Last week I attended the first meeting. The state planning office is maintaining a web page about the proceedings, membership, agendas etc.  I was pleasantly surprised at the positive attitude of the group and the Governors commitment to implement whatever we come up with. (He came right before lunch to offer a few encouraging words). Clearly there is an opportunity here and I think that the group is made up of enough common sense folks that we should be able to move good ideas through the process. 

Part of the effort will be having the folks working in various natural resource industries think about their needs and how best to have those met. One interesting issue that arose quickly was the way that different agencies view their roles. Some as regulating industry and others as helping industry meet goals and helping them promote their product.

This should be a fascinating process and I will be interested to see the end result. The down side is that it will take some time away from my summer and fall guiding seasons.