Photo: Collins Illich on Unsplash.com

By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - May 26, 2026


The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced that the first rollout phase of its new electronic licensing system (ELS) will officially launch on June 9, 2026. According to a May 26 press release from the MN DNR, this rollout will begin with hunting and fishing licenses.

The upcoming June 9 launch will allow users to purchase and store licenses via a website, email, a mobile app, or in-person. License holders will have the option to carry paper copies, PDFs, or use the mobile app, allowing for offline harvest registration.

To make the transition from the old system to the new one, the DNR said it will pause fishing license sales for one week. The old system will shut down at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 1, through 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 8. During this time, anglers will be permitted to fish without a license. The DNR stated that while licenses will not be required, all other fishing regulations, seasons, and bag limits will remain fully in effect during this time.

The new ELS will be available for hunting and fishing licenses at 12:00 a.m. on June 9. User guides, how-to videos, and people to assist buyers and agents through the system change will be available, according to the DNR. 

The process for all other DNR-related licensing and titling will remain the same until the phase two rollout (recreational vehicle and watercraft titling and registration), which has not yet been announced. 

Project background

The June 9 launch comes after multi-year project delays, a postponement in 2025, and a recent special examination by the Financial Audit Division of the Office of the Minnesota Legislative Auditor (OLA), which released a report on its findings in April of this year. 

For more than nine years, the DNR has been planning and developing a replacement for its 25-year-old system, which runs on an outdated platform, the organization said. 

According to the OLA report, the aging platform makes technical support and system enhancements difficult, while also increasing security risks. The new platform will include options for online and mobile licensing, and eventually vehicle management for watercraft and recreational vehicles, event management for firearms safety and education, customer relationship management tools, and an enforcement mobile app that will allow conservation officers to verify credentials offline.

The implementation of the new ELS was originally scheduled to launch in March 2025, but was delayed indefinitely due to "technical quality issues" and "persistent gaps in essential functions," according to the OLA. To help prevent future issues, the DNR and Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) decided to switch to a phased rollout, first focusing on fishing and hunting licensing. Then, in the April 2026 special examination report, the OLA identified several additional concerns that it says could jeopardize the success of the new ELS launch or cause further delays.

At a joint press conference with DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen and Minnesota IT Services Commissioner Jon Eichten on April 30, Eichten said the organizations agree with the OLA report's findings and that multiple entities have worked to fix the issues. 

According to data from the OLA report, the DNR manages more than $90 million in license sales over 2.3 million transactions each year. This includes approximately 1.4 million licensed anglers, 548,000 hunters and trappers, 812,000 registered watercraft, and 578,000 registered snowmobiles and off-highway vehicles. These transactions are distributed across 1,500 point-of-sale locations and 170 registration and titling agent locations throughout the state. 

To learn more about the new system and the launch, visit the MN DNR site here.