THIS IS the land selected by the Department of Natural Resources today for the Southwest Regional headquarters of the department. It is some of the most scenic land in southern Minnesota along the Cottonwood River and Highway 15 south. The natural resources department will build a two story building and parking lot and preserve the balance of the 117 acres. The DNR has been looking for a site for several years. The regional offices are a part of decentralizing the DNR into six offices in outstate Minnesota. (Photo by Ron Grieser)

ST. PAUL — New Ulm has been selected as the site for the southwest regional headquarters of the Department of Natural Resources, DNR Commissioner Robert Herbst announced today.

The department will construct an office building on a 117-acre site donated by the city and county along Highway 15 South and the Cottonwood River.

In choosing New Ulm, Herbst said its geographic location in relation to the department’s activities and the desirability of the site were determining factors.

New Ulm was selected from 12 communities in southwestern Minnesota. All offered land to the department, although none as scenic as the land along the Cottonwood River.

Total purchase price is $85,000 of which Brown County is paying $25,000. There is some surplus land which the city hopes to sell for about $15,000 making the city’s contribution around $45,000.

Most of those funds were gained in a recent sale by RayGo for a new manufacturing plant in the industrial park near the old landfill.

Initially the department plans to build a two-story office building in the wooded area overlooking the Cottonwood River. There are future plans of more construction here for the storage and maintenance of DNR-owned vehicles.

The Southwest Region will become the third of six to become operative. Just several weeks ago the department moved into a new building at Bemidji for the Northwest regional headquarters.

The Central Region is operating out of an office in Brainerd. The department is currently seeking land offers for an office in the northeastern part of the state. Other offices are planned for the southeast and the metro areas.

The regional concept is part of a new re-organization for the DNR which formerly was housed in the Centennial office building in the capitol complex in St. Paul. The six regional offices were recommended by the Loaned Executives Action Program (LEAP).

Actually, New Ulm and the DNR have been interested in an office in New Ulm for six years. Attorney Henry Somsen, president of New Ulm Industries, has been working with the department for a site location in New Ulm.

It was, however, the LEAP recommendations last year which stirred interest in the decentralization again.

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THE NEW ULM office will have about 10 employees plus secretarial help at the beginning. There will be a regional director, or mini-commissioner, who will report directly to the DNR commissioner and will be in charge of the entire 26 county region.

In addition all the divisional managers will be stationed in the New Ulm facility. This includes the regional recreation manager who is already located in New Ulm. Charles Mitchell is already living here and is the only employee who will not have to be transferred here.

There will be a regional enforcement officer who is in charge of all conservation officers in the region. He is currently living in Mankato. A regional game manager stationed in Slayton will be moving here, in addition to a regional fisheries manager who is now in Hutchinson.

Also a regional forester, regional hydrologist, regional engineer and office manager will be added.

The announcement is the result of months of negotiating with the communities in the southwestern part of the state. There were seven or eight communities at which the DNR was looking and all offered the department free land.

Free land also has been donated for the Bemidji site since the authorization of the Legislature for the regionalization allows no appropriation for land acquisition. The appropriation for the New Ulm building is $125,000, but the 1974 legislature is expected to raise that figure.

There has been some intense political pressure for the headquarters. With the legislature in session many lawmakers have been asking the DNR for consideration of their respective communities. Rep. Tony Eckstein has done much work in securing the facility for New Ulm and has acted as a liaison between the department and the city.

The facility has the potential of being expanded. The Journal has learned that upper consideration in the department is a plan to consolidate the southwest and the southeast regions into a south region which would be located at New Ulm.

In addition the facility would be used for training and education. These programs would be in conjunction with Flandrau State Park.

\New Ulm Daily Journal, July 10, 1973