The Department recognizes that it cannot address every problem. It cannot be everything to everyone. However, as the state's population increases faster than the Department's budget, it is more important than ever to use our limited resources in the most strategic ways possible. Now, we are creating strategies to address environmental problems in a holistic manner. The quality of air, land, and water are inextricably linked, and thus DENR's strategic plan is based on integration and teamwork.
Planning is a time-intensive process.
However, quality planning creates efficiency and focus. It reduces the fuel so that the fires of working in a state agency are avoided or at least burn less furiously. The better the Department plans, the more it targets preventing pollution before it is created and raising environmental awareness. Those efforts, in the end, are cheaper than mitigating pollution or natural resource damage that has already occurred. The strategic planning process has been like building an airplane while it is being flown.