A proposal to buffer the state's lead environmental enforcement agency from political influence is back before the state Legislature again.

This time it might have enough traction to win - and maybe even to withstand a veto by Gov. Jim Doyle.

At issue is whether the head of the state Department of Natural Resources - the secretary - is appointed by the governor or the seven-member state Natural Resources Board that oversees the DNR.

On Tuesday, more than 170 people jammed a Capitol hearing room - many of them hunters, trappers and anglers - and most supported legislation to have the agency headed by a citizen-board appointee. DNR employees and former employees also testified and said the agency has been politicized in the past decade and charged that in some cases regulations have been weakened and enforcement cases have been interfered with.

The board picked the DNR secretary for many years - until 1995, when then-Gov. Tommy Thompson got the Legislature to make it a political appointment made at the whim of the governor. At the time, Doyle opposed Thompson's move, but now that he sits in the catbird seat, he has changed his position and wants the appointment power to stay with the governor. What a surprise! Doyle now contends the agency is more effective when the secretary is part of his Cabinet and the department has the weight of the governor behind it.

Wisconsin's outdoor resources - water resources, air quality and wildlife - have always been highly prized by state residents. Their management and enforcement of laws regulating them should not be subject to quick political changes that ebb and flow with the occupant of the governor's office. More than that, the agency's policies should be developed based on professional judgment, scientific knowledge and the expertise of agency staff - water resources managers, air quality experts, wardens, wildlife managers - and not necessarily bend at the whim of a political supporter of the governor or legislator.

There is no way of isolating the DNR from political pressures - often times they are in the thick of disputes - whether it be the Crandon mine, state deer hunting policies, feuds between snowmobilers and biking enthusiasts over the use of state trails, the impact of commercial well-drilling on an aquifer (Perrier) or the water resources needed to cool a nuclear power plant (Koshkonong).

Time and time again, the agency staff has tried to view those disputes with a dispassionate long-term look at the impacts on state resources.

Those decisions, we believe, are best made by giving the agency staff a slight political buffer by having the head of the agency selected by a citizens' board. Under the old system, the members of the seven-person Natural Resources Board are appointed by the governor, but they have staggered terms, and three must come from northern Wisconsin and three from the southern part of the state. That means a newly elected governor - Republican or Democrat - doesn't have immediate control over the board; it takes a few years before his (or her) appointees have a majority on the board. That buffers the agency from rapid swings in policy based on the political occupant of the governor's office, and it served as a good model for the state for 70 years.

We would urge the Legislature to return to that model.