DNR K-9 Units To Demonstrate At Minnesota State Fair

(KNSI) – The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will put its canine program on display at the Minnesota State Fair, where handlers plan a series of demonstrations at the DNR stage over both weekends of the run.

Conservation Officer Mike Crowell, stationed in Mora, is one of nine canine handlers in the agency. He told KNSI the DNR has used dogs for 15 to 20 years, starting with drug detection before shifting the program toward fish and game work.

Those dogs now serve mainly as search tools. Crowell said officers use them to find fish hidden in snowbanks around ice houses during the winter, and he described one common use in the field. “So our canines locate firearms and ammunition, so if we have a deer poach from the road, we can find the shell casing to prove it was shot from the road.”

He said a dog working a scent can cover tall grass or open country in a fraction of the time it takes officers on foot. “It definitely, as a force multiplier, takes a lot less time for us to find something than an officer looking for them by themselves.”

Fairgoers who come for a demonstration will find the rest of the DNR’s exhibits in the same corner of the grounds. The agency’s historic building opened September 1st, 1934, and turns 92 this year. Crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression era work relief program, put it up in less than six months using machined logs.

The outdoor fish pond next to the building draws about 950,000 visitors over the run of the fair. It holds roughly 50,000 gallons of water and about three dozen fish species native to Minnesota. Nearby, visitors can climb the 84 steps to the top of the DNR’s 65 foot fire tower, which is listed on the National Historic Lookout Register.

Smokey Bear appears daily at the DNR building and the surrounding grounds at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

The Minnesota State Fair runs August 27th through Labor Day, September 7th.

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