Question 4:

The Governor of Minnesota will be asked to come up with solutions to a variety of issues that culminate in the tension between the need to protect the environment, and the need to sustain economic development. Solutions to conflicts that have arisen through issues such as the BWCA, timber resources, agriculture, including feedlots, and others will require making difficult choices and creating consensus. What are some of the tradeoffs you see in these rural and urban issues? In your rebuttal please respond to these two questions. Can you create consensus between these divergent Minnesota interests to work out some of these problems. If so, how would you create that consensus?

QUIST Response to Question 4:

Let me begin on a personal level. I own, protect and maintain three wetlands, one constructed at my own expense, one constructed by a neighbor and purchased from him, the third is a natural wetland.

I also own and protect 25 acres of hardwood forest. The woodland contains a burr oak that is among the largest in Minnesota having a circumference of 15 feet. I pay taxes on this property yearly, and I have never received any financial return.

I have also pioneered conservation tillage practices. I have not used a moldboard plow for 15 years, having converted the 1000 acre farm to a minimum tillage system.

My greatest difficulty with conservation interests occurred several years ago when county government succeeded, over my protest, in destroying 2/3 of the nesting habitat at one of my wetlands. I have personally been re-establishing that cover since that time.

My experience is not unusual. Most citizens, given the opportunities, would do the same things I have. Property owners normally want to protect and enhance their property. Government, however, can become the exploiter of the environment as well as the protector.

The key is finding the proper balance between three important interests. One interest is understanding that the primary role of government is protection of the vulnerable—protecting vulnerable persons is the highest priority, obviously, but government also plays an important role in protecting the environment.

The second interest is the fundamental right of all persons to own private property and to have the opportunity to make an honest living from the property. Freedom cannot exist without this right.

The third interest is recognizing that ownership includes the responsibility of good stewardship. Persons have the right to own real estate, but no one has the right to damage it. We must protect and enhance the quality of real property that we own.