An Austinite is one of two people appointed by Governor Mark Dayton who will now make major funding decisions about outdoor conservation in Minnesota.

Susan Olson

Dayton appointed Susan Olson to the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council (LSOHC), along with Elizabeth Wilkens of Kanabec County.

Olson, a senior attorney in the Hormel Corporate Office, is also the president of the Mower County chapter of the Pheasants Forever and was recently appointed as a board member of the Cedar River Watershed District. Olson — an outdoor fanatic — helped secure various funds for several Wildlife Management Areas near Austin and is a Department of Natural Resources firearms safety instructor, as well.

Olson, who will not return to the area until Monday, was unavailable for comment.

“Susan is a lifelong outdoorswoman who is very involved in the Austin area with conservation projects,” DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr said in a news release. “She knows what it takes to put conservation on the ground in agricultural Minnesota, and as a corporate attorney, brings a business sense to getting things done. She will be the Council’s first citizen member from south-central Minnesota.”

Olson’s was formerly president of the Oak Grove Gun Club and a former vice president of the Cedar Valley Conservation Club. She has been a member of the Workers Compensation Advisory Board since 2007, reappointed by Gov. Dayton in 2012.

The LSOHC was established by the legislature to provide annual funding recommendations to the legislature from the Outdoor Heritage Fund. The Outdoor Heritage Fund, one of four funds created by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, receives one-third of the money raised by the tax increase.