Letter to the editor: Forestry Center transfer advancing

I recently received a copy of a letter from Brian Buhr, Dean of the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences that provided an update on the Cloquet Forestry Center. A technical working group has been formed and charged with “compiling information related to the UMN’s current and potential future activities at Cloquet Forestry Center to inform the scope around a memorandum of understanding as the land is transferred to [the Fond du Lac Band]. This will provide clear options for a transition model to ownership and management by FDL.”

There are no alumni from the Forestry College on the working group. Karen Diver, UMN’s senior advisor to the president for Native Americans and former Fond du Lac chairwoman will provide guidance and expert council throughout the discussions. I might note that the letter contains this: “Any information shared from other former or current members of our University community should not be interpreted as official, accurate, or representative of current deliberations.”

Thank you for the many positive comments I have received from Pine Knot readers regarding my past input about the CFC.

Al Alm,

UMN Professor Emeritus,

Cloquet