FY 2008-2009 BUDGET TESTIMONY - HOUSE AGRICULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON FINANCE April 5, 2007
Chairman Core and members of the committee, I am Sean Logan, the new Director of the Department of Natural Resources. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today concerning the department's diverse programs and activities for the FY's 2008 and 2009.
To a department that is barely two-thirds the size it was in 1992 a flat budget is a good budget. I hope that we can move beyond the numbers and figures on the pages in front of us, and prove the value to Ohio taxpayers of the support we are asking you to entrust us with.
While parks and hunting and fishing come to mind when we think about natural resources, these things are actually secondary. What comes first is broader in scope: what comes first is how this department is making Ohio a better place to work, live and raise a family.
Under this bright light, we know that our job is not to turn Ohio into a pristine nature preserve. Our job is to keep Ohio working and growing while recognizing that our land, water and air can only give so much, and can only recover so quickly.
Therefore, we are managers. And as the competition for resources grows the importance and impact of what we do will grow.
At question in everything we do is the relationship between conservation and development. I like to think that it is the difference between making progress quickly and making progress recklessly.
We see our role as providing the tools and foresight to create the most progress for the most people, for the longest time possible. This department will never be against progress. But, we will act appropriately against short-sighted, short-term progress.
ODNR's relation to Ohio's future can even be compared to that of a cofferdam; it keeps it from all rushing recklessly forward at once and leaving all of Ohio like a clear-cut forest or a stripped-down hillside. Creating short-term profit but leaving nothing, with nothing at all left for future generations. Leaving us in a place where there is scarcity without demand the exact opposite of wise use.
Even further, looking ahead, if this department's effectiveness is to be judged, I hope it will be judged on its ability to show that any sound development, any development that is good for Ohio, will not happen at the expense of conservation, it will happen because of conservation and in cooperation with it.
Beyond the existing budget items to be discussed, we are also planning on finding new ways to coordinate with the Office of Travel and Tourism to market Ohio both inside and outside the state.
As part of this, we will enlist the department's parks and preserves in the fight against childhood obesity, we will promote ecotourism, encourage activities for entire families and help build a new recognition of the bond between access to green space and Ohio's overall quality of life.
Other new initiatives will be pursued in the rapidly changing field of energy, and especially, carbon energy resource management. In the new arena of renewable, sustainable energy, we believe Ohio is in a unique position to serve as a leader and beneficiary, and we have no intention of being left behind.
Through the budget in front of you, we will continue to expand on the work already being done. We will increase the role of the department in making Ohio a better place to live, work and raise a family. The resource management provided by ODNR is as essential to development as is the health of our land, our water, and our air. We will show that the sound management of our resources is not only the right thing to do morally; it is the right thing to do economically.
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