The first female commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources is a problem solver, consensus builder, clean water champion, lake cabin owner and fishing enthusiast who vows to deepen the connections Minnesotans have to the outdoors.
Sarah Strommen, who was picked over incumbent Tom Landwehr to shepherd the state's land, lakes and wildlife, was appointed Thursday and will take control of the agency Monday after serving four years as an assistant DNR commissioner overseeing fishing, hunting, wildlife, state parks and trails.
"She's excellent at items of high concern," said Ramsey Mayor John LeTourneau. "She'll do great."
Strommen, 46, preceded LeTourneau as mayor of that Anoka County suburb _ a hands-on position that many say boosted her suitability to lead the DNR's 2,700 employees and $1.1 billion biennial budget. Gov.-elect Tim Walz said he had never met Strommen until he interviewed her for the job. He jettisoned Landwehr, a personal friend, to give Strommen the reins.
"She knows the ins and outs of the department," Walz said. "She spoke with a passion that spoke to me."
Strommen is a new face to the general public, but she's been a natural resource professional in her home state for a decade. She was policy director at Friends of the BWCA; associate director at Minnesota Land Trust; and acting deputy director for the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, another state agency. She joined the DNR in 2015.
"She listens first and tries to understand," said Kris Larson, executive director of the Minnesota Land Trust. "But she's a doer. She gets things done."
Gov. Mark Dayton leaned on Strommen to clean up polluted surface water in farm country by teaming her with others to develop his agricultural buffer strip initiative. She also has helped steer millions of special tax dollars to conservation projects as the DNR's liaison to the Lessard Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.
Larson said Strommen's intricate knowledge of state government translated into speedy work of high quality. "If she's got a superpower it's that she can suspend time," Larson said. "She gets so much done."
On the home front, that includes weekends at the family cabin on Leech Lake, where her 12-year-old son hones skills useful to his Bassinators Junior Fishing Club. She recently caught perch with him on Leech Lake's ice. But Strommen said she was blanked on this year's family deer hunt in the rough and hilly Paul Bunyan State Forest.
"It's so much a part of my family and my family's experience," Strommen said of the outdoors. "I would say that angling is my first love."
