REDWOOD FALLS -- The Department of Natural Resources is looking for ways to resolve the growing conflict between the demand to mine the aggregate resources of the Minnesota River Valley and the competing interest to protect its natural resources and develop its potential for tourism and recreation.
People from both sides of the issue aired their views to DNR Commissioner Gene Merriam and the heads of many of the divisions that will play key decision making roles at a forum sponsored by the DNR on Monday in Redwood Falls.
Merriam told the nearly 100 participants that the DNR is in the "exploratory stage" of addressing the issue.
It is being fought over the department's interpretation of the Minnesota River wild and scenic designation enacted into law by the state in 1973. It allows the extraction of sand and gravel within the portions of the valley protected under the wild and scenic act, but does not permit hard rock mining.
The DNR has some "sorting out to do," Merriam said. He added that the department will continue to enforce the current interpretation of the designation.
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But the commissioner suggested that he may be open to some change, such as possibly revising the boundary lines of the protected area. The lines follow private property lines in a zigzag fashion down the river valley.
They were drawn under a restriction allowing no more than 320 acres to be in the protected corridor for every mile of river.
Parties on both sides of the issue agree the boundary lines are imperfect.
That's about where the agreement ends.
The current conflict flared about two years ago when Duininck Brothers Construction of Prinsburg sought to renew its permit for a quarry in Renville County.
The operation is located in an area protected by the wild and scenic designation, and county and state officials realized the initial permit should not have been granted.
Harris Duininck, president of the company, told those attending the forum that the future of the region's economy will depend on providing access to these aggregate resources. He warned that the "aggregate resources in Renville County and Southwestern Minnesota ... are just about gone."
Taxpayers will see ever rising costs for road building and other needs, and the region will not have affordable aggregate needed for communities to grow.
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Others from the construction and mining industry, and Dave Trooien, chief engineer for the Willmar office of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, joined Duininck in warning that aggregate resources are being depleted.
Trooien pointed out that over 1 million square yards of gravel were needed for the state Highway 23 project in the Spicer area alone.
Are Duininck and others exaggerating the impending shortage of aggregate in the region? "Not at all," said Dennis Martin, manager, mineral potential section of the DNR division of lands and minerals when questioned afterwards.
Yet others expressed concerns at the forum that opening up the protected granite outcrops of the Minnesota River Valley to mining would permanently destroy one of the river valley's most important attributes, and unnecessarily so.
Brian Green, Redwood County planning and zoning, said there are large volumes of rock available to mining outside of the boundaries of the wild and scenic act.
Green and others also said that there are tremendous volumes of aggregate available to quarry operations that are willing to excavate. They pointed to the deep-pit operations of Martin Marietta Aggregates in Granite Falls and Southern Minnesota Construction of Mankato as successful examples of mining operations located in the river valley, but outside of the wild and scenic boundary.
Patrick Moore of Clean Up our River Environment joined the call for finding sources of aggregate outside the wild and scenic river boundaries in order to protect the valley's resources for future generations.
He warned that opening protected areas to mining would lead to a progressive degradation of the river valley.
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"We're talking about the potential to become the West Virginia of Minnesota," said Moore of opening the scenic rock outcrops to mining.
Others saw the battle over mining as an attack on private property rights. Donald Svoboda, who owns the land that Duininck Brothers Construction had mined in Renville County, said his rights as a property owner are being violated by the wild and scenic protection.
