A meeting among Nashville and Indiana Department of Natural Resources officials yielded the start of what Town Manager Scott Rudd hopes will be a very productive relationship.

Rudd, Nashville Town Council President Charles “Buzz” King, Brown County Community Foundation CEO Larry Pejeau and Bruce Gould met with top representatives from the DNR and the Hoosier National Forest in March.

Rudd, with the support of town and county leaders, had asked for the meeting to find ways that local leaders could work with DNR leaders to help accomplish common goals.

He wanted to encourage thinking about Brown County State Park and other natural areas as more of a part of the county and town and vice-versa, because both depend on each other and on tourism for their economic health.

The meeting, which Rudd thought might last for an hour, lasted two-and-a-half hours, he said.

They’re going to start with a small project: Putting informational kiosks in town about the state park, and in the state park about the town, Rudd said, calling it “a small step toward a larger relationship.”