It’s not easy cutting back on the annual mileage when your job is to manage 3 million acres of forest and agriculture lands. Some back roads require four-wheel drive even in good weather, and you know what lousy mileage 4X4s get. But an effort initiated in 2008 — supported also in the DNR 2010-2014 Strategic Plan: The Goldmark Agenda — is reducing our energy footprint and saving substantial money. How much? We’re spending about $500,000 less on vehicle costs each year.
As the Politics blog at the Bellingham Herald noted, the reduction consists of $300,000 in lower operating costs each year. What yesterday’s DNR news release did not include was the additional $200,000 in annual savings that will come from driving less and using more fuel-efficient vehicles.
As Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark commented yesterday: “Reducing emissions and the overall energy footprint of DNR is a top priority. By cutting the number of vehicles and driving less we are saving millions of dollars while enhancing our mission of managing the state’s lands wisely and for the public good.”
Saving effort tied to strategic objectives
The savings are a direct result of a goal set in the DNR 2010-2014 Strategic Plan: The Goldmark Agenda. The goal (Goal 5) includes an objective for DNR to reduce its energy use. We’ve blogged in recent weeks about energy savings we’ve made in facility operations, computing and other areas.
We also eliminated 125 vehicles from our statewide fleet last year, saving $3 million.
It’s worth noting that the vehicle reductions targeted the automobiles, passenger vans, pick-up trucks and other highway-use vehicles DNR owns. We continue to maintain the fire engines, water tenders and other back-country vehicles needed to defend about 12.7 million acres of the state from wildfire.
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EAR TO THE GROUND WITH DNR & COMMISSIONER FRANZ 