Kathryn Fernholz, president & CEO of Dovetail Partners, has been named to the Minnesota Forest Resources Council. Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan recently announced the appointments. Ms. Fernholz serves as an Environmental Organization Representative with a term through January 2, 2023. She previously served on the Council in the early-2000s.
“I am honored to return to service on the Council”, said Fernholz. “This is an important time for Minnesota’s forest resources as we experience new challenges and opportunities in our forest-based economies and forested ecosystems that call us to act as ever-greater stewards for the resource and the communities throughout the state that depend upon it. The leadership of the Council and its membership is as important now as at any time in its nearly 25-year history.”
The Minnesota Forest Resources Council (MFRC) is a 17-member board created to encourage the adoption of sustainable forest management policies and practices and to develop policy recommendations to the Governor and federal, state, and local governments. Council members represent a wide range of forest resource interests.
Since being formed in 1995, the Council has played an integral role in depoliticizing complex forest issues and helping Minnesota’s citizens, lawmakers, and forest professionals make sound decisions regarding the stewardship of public and private forestlands. The Council acts as a catalyst for new landscape-level cooperative models and championing long-term ecosystem integrity.
Unlike a traditional state agency, the Council fulfills its charge under the Minnesota Sustainable Forest Resources Act, by developing recommendations related to “forest resource policies and practices that result in the sustainable management, use, and protection of the state’s forest resources.” This unique model of cooperation among diverse interests gives all Minnesotans an opportunity to care for their forests ensuring economic, ecological, and social sustainability.
Fernholz is a forester by training with over 22 years of experience in the forest sector of Minnesota. Her areas of expertise include third-party forest certification programs, including auditing and standard-setting. She also has extensive experience with family forest owner considerations and has led projects addressing forest-based recreation management in Northern Minnesota.