Mon, Nov 23 2009
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DNR director ending controversial tenure “Bersin called me and wanted to know what the environmental group’s recommendations are. He said that he was planning on contacting us,’’ Midkiff said. “We gave Bersin three names. By the type of people we recommended, I think Bersin knows the direction in which we want the DNR to go.’’
Missouri Farm Bureau President Charles Kruse praised Childers, saying he “came into a very difficult job and worked hard to be fair.” He also said the next director “must be someone who will address the issues based upon facts and sound science, not emotion.” “Agriculture is Missouri’s largest industry and important to the economy of our state,” Kruse said. “Farmers want to do what’s right, are sensitive to being good stewards of the environment and should be given the fair opportunity to be profitable.” Everett Forkner, a Nevada-area hog farmer and member of the Missouri Pork Association and the National Pork Board, praised Childers for what he called Childers’ “sit-down sessions.” “There is nothing that takes the place of building relationships one-on-one,” he said. Forkner said he hopes that Nixon’s DNR director will look at what the industry has done and is trying to do, and respect the fact that farmers are as interested in protecting the environment as anyone else. “I think that individual needs to represent all the people,” Forkner said of the next DNR director. “Protecting the environment, we all want to do that. We also have to have an adequate supply at an adequate price. We got to have a balance.” Christmas gift Childers’ departure is being hailed as an opportunity for change by some residents who are campaigning for stricter regulation of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). “Doyle Childers, resigning as director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, is a Christmas present to everyone who cares about our environment,’’ said Jim Riedel, a member of the Roaring River Parks Alliance, which wants to protect the river from further encroachment by chicken CAFOs. “He (Childers) was appointed by Gov. Blunt to speed up the process of applications for CAFOs. The DNR has not turned down a permit since his appointment,’’ Riedel said. “The sad thing is, it will take many years and millions of our tax dollars to clean up the damage he caused by letting the large corporations control his department.’’ Childers said he would have been able to do more as the director of the DNR had he not been in continuous conflict with Nixon. He said his time at the department was consumed by fights with Nixon over a proposal to tear down the Katy Trail railroad bridge that crosses the Missouri River near Boonville and the cleanup of Johnson Shut-ins State Park after a dam holding back the Taum Sauk Reservoir burst in Southeast Missouri. “It made for more complications,’’ Childers said. “The Boonville bridge, well, we beat him three times in court on that. It took up a lot of our time and effort. After that, Johnson Shut-Ins took a huge amount of time.’’ He said it’s “no secret’’ that he and Nixon had been at odds. 
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