Amendment News:

Topic: Parks + Trails   

03/09/2010 -

The city of Savage is among the applicants selected to receive a 2009 Solar Energy Legacy Grant from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The $41,000 grant will be used to install solar panels this summer at the McColl Pond Environmental Learning Center (ELC).

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/05/2010 - Minnesota is preparing to pay more landowners to set aside thousands of acres for conservation, but it appears state officials have little idea how much they have already spent on such projects over the years and have rarely monitored how the land was being used.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   

03/04/2010 - Conservation Minnesota has compiled a partial but extensive list of projects funded by the Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/04/2010 - Given our state’s negative fiscal condition, this is a difficult time for legislators with new project ideas to find the money needed to make their projects viable. One can understand why they might look longingly at Legacy funds like the Outdoor Heritage Fund as a place to bankroll their ideas.

Two such bills have been recently introduced, independent of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, that would tap the OHF for money.

Topic: Clean Water   

03/02/2010 - Watershed study circle sessions sponsored by the Buffalo-Red River Watershed District and the Barnesville Economic Development Authority will be held March 11 and March 25.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/26/2010 -

The notion that so-called Legacy dollars intended to benefit fish, game and wildlife are somehow being misspent, or are cast about by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council (LSOHC) willy-nilly for the asking, is all the rage in the blogosphere, it seems, and even, at times, in the mainstream media.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Topic: Clean Water   

02/24/2010 -

A local resident is encouraging people to voice their opinions on how the money should be spent.

Bonnie Huettl of Alexandria recently attended a listening session in Baxter hosted by the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center (WRC) and the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR).

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/17/2010 -

Arts advocates charge that Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to zero out legislative funding for the State Arts Board is a nonstarter. The governor's budget would eliminate the agency's allocation by 2013.

While Pawlenty did not say as much, observers assume that money collected from the state's Legacy Amendment could provide sufficient funding for the Arts Board. Arts supporters argue the amendment specifically prohibits that.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/16/2010 - Nearly $59 million would be spent to accelerate restoration and enhancement of prairies, wetlands, forest and wildlife habitat in Minnesota under recommendations made recently by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council. The Heritage Council makes recommendations to the Legislature on the one-third of the revenue raised by the Outdoor Legacy Amendment for fish and wildlife habitat.

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/16/2010 - Three Minnesota zoos that each received $112,000 of the voter-approved Legacy Amendment funds reported to a legislative committee Monday on what they're doing with the money.

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/15/2010 - On February 15, Gov. Pawlenty revealed his plan to solve the state’s never ending budget deficit. Among a variety of cuts to state agencies and many other programs, he proposed cutting Minnesota State Arts Board and Regional Arts Council funding by 33% in 2011, and eliminating general fund support of the MSAB and RACs altogether by 2013, to “transition (the agency) to a nonprofit corporation.”

Topic: Parks + Trails   

02/12/2010 - Today, as recipients of a $200,000 state Parks and Trails Legacy Grant, the Quarry Hill Nature Center is looking not only to fix its pond permanently, but to enlarge it by about 75 percent.

Topic:

02/12/2010 - The House Cultural and Outdoor Heritage Committee, at their February 8 meeting, included a hearing on the consequences of public ownership of land to local governments. Representatives from a number of county and township associations spoke of their concern over the loss of property tax revenue when private land is sold to become public land.

Most vocal concerns came from folks in northeastern Minnesota, understandably so. The arrowhead counties contain significant acreage of public land. (Think Superior National Forest, Chippewa National Forest, the BWCA, Voyageurs National Park, state forests and school trust lands.)

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/12/2010 -

An outdoor columnist argues, "There is a move on in the State Legislature to divert part of the 33 percent funding for game, fish and wildlife projects to other interests."

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/07/2010 -

Artisans in a five-county region will share $244,000 in new program grants, thanks to new state sales tax revenues through the Legacy Amendment.

“I have the luckiest job in the state right now,” Sue Gens, executive director of the Minnesota State Arts Board, said Friday night at a celebration in the Bemidji Community Arts Center.

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/03/2010 - he Menahga Area Historical Society Museum will receive $2,073 for the purchase of software to allow the group to inventory the collection of artifacts at the museum. The Menahga Area Historical Society is one of the first recipients of 2010 Fast Track grants from the Minnesota Historical Society Legacy program. The MAHS museum will receive $2,073 for the purchase of software to allow the group to inventory the collection of artifacts at the museum.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/03/2010 - Darby Nelson is a member of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council and president of the board of Conservation Minnesota.

 
Last legislative session, the bill that allocated appropriations for the constitutionally dedicated legacy funds included other provisions as well. One such section, advocated by the House, required establishment of a Legislative Guide. The intent of the guide was to state “principles for use and expected outcomes” of the four legacy funds.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

01/30/2010 - The largest municipal park in Minnesota hopes to improve on its centerpiece with a grant from a new Department of Natural Resources source.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/29/2010 - The battle over the wording of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment will continue when the 2010 Legislature opens next month.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/28/2010 - Completion of a major study of excess sediment and algae in the Zumbro River Watershed didn't find anything dramatically new, but it will help local governments, and citizens, tap into money to fix the problems.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/28/2010 - The Pine River Fire Department and the Minnesota Military Museum in Little Falls were named recipients of Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/25/2010 - Darby Nelson, a member of the Outdoor Heritage Council and president of the board of Conservation Minnesota, talks about the value taxpayers are getting for the Council's work.

Apparently the legislature had a similar concern. When they established the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, they required that administrative costs not exceed one percent of the money going into the OHF. Initially the council felt discriminated against since other entities like the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota’s Resources and private grant-making bodies typically spend anywhere from 2.5 to 6 percent or more of their funds for administration.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/22/2010 - For the two-year period from July 2009 through June 2011, the Minnesota State Legislature has appropriated a significant portion of the arts and cultural heritage fund to the Minnesota State Arts Board and Minnesota’s eleven regional arts councils.  These funds will help make high-quality arts experiences more accessible and available to Minnesotans throughout the state.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/21/2010 - Governor Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature kept faith with voter intent and the state constitution in the first year of conservation funding under the 2008 Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, an independent analysis by Conservation Minnesota reported today.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/21/2010 -

Good news for Minnesotans:  our budget analysis shows that the Governor and Legislature kept faith with voters in 2009 on conservation funding in the new Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. As promised to voters who supported the Amendment, our state elected officials did not raid the new funding by diverting it to other purposes.  They also kept a promise not to cut other conservation funds disproportionately. 

 

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/20/2010 - The ability of public agencies, the Department of Natural Resources in particular, to undertake and complete habitat and other fish and wildlife projects might be a limiting long-term factor in spending money from the Outdoor Heritage Fund, according to Mike Kilgore, chair of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/19/2010 - The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council recently recommended to the Legislature about $56.2 million in projects for the second round of funding from the constitutional amendment voters approved in 2008.

Later that day, lawmakers and others interested in how money from the amendment is spent engaged in discussion on topics that could affect how that money is spent now and in the future.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/15/2010 - Darby Nelson continues his series of posts on projects recommended for funding this year by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council. Darby is a member of the Council and president of the board of Conservation Minnesota.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/13/2010 - New funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Act will help the Duluth Children’s Museum meet its budget when it moves to a larger space in the Clyde Park development.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/11/2010 - Funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment is starting to flow to local water quality projects.

The Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed District received $58,000 in grant funds for Square Lake Implementation Plan Refinement and $39,000 in grant funds for Sand and Long Lake Diagnostic Studies.

Topic:

01/08/2010 - Darby Nelson continues his series on the funding recommendations of the Lessard Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.  Darby is a member of the Council and President of the Board of Conservation Minnesota.

This column continues describing the conservation work the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council is recommending this funding round and which parts of the state the work is to happen. This week’s focus is on the Prairie Unit.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/08/2010 - Hunters and anglers are concerned the Minnesota Legislature is redefining the purposes for which Legacy Amendment habitat money can be spent.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/07/2010 - Funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment is starting to flow to local water quality projects. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) uses a portion of the Clean Water Fund for grants to cities, counties, watershed groups and others to work on water quality problems.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/06/2010 - New revenue from the Legacy Amendment could spur a broader, more democratic growth of the arts through Minnesota in the next decade.

Topic: Clean Water   Art + Culture   

01/05/2010 - Recent economic forecasts have painted a dire picture of the state's financial condition. However, there are some funds that are flush with money that is being turned over to organizations throughout the state, including several in southeastern Minnesota.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/04/2010 -

The fish in the Vermillion River may have reason to breathe easier this year.

Dakota County is in line to get about $2.1 million to protect habitat around the treasured cold-water trout stream and the nearby Cannon River if the Legislature approves preliminary recommendations from the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/04/2010 - Funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment is starting to flow to local water quality projects. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) uses a portion of the Clean Water Fund for grants to cities, counties, watershed groups and others to work on water quality problems.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/30/2009 - Earlier this month, the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council made preliminary recommendations for over $56 million in habitat restoration and conservation funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. Darby Nelson, a member of the Council and president of the board of Conservation Minnesota, continues a series of posts describing activities that would be funded under the recommendations.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/23/2009 - The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council has approved a list of 25 projects that include buying land and restoring habitat. A complete list is now available.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/23/2009 -

On Dec. 15, the council chose 25 projects worth $56.2 million. They were culled from $181.7 million in requests.

Overall, there’s $81 million in sales taxes forecast for the 2011 fiscal year in the Outdoor Heritage Fund - one of four funds created for the new Legacy money. The other three are for parks and trails, clean water and arts and culture

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/22/2009 - The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council’s draft funding recommendations touch habitat types across all five of our ecological regions as I reported last week. This week I want to begin describing the kinds of activities planned for each of those regions starting with the Northern Forest section. This section includes the entire north-central and north-eastern parts of the state.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/22/2009 -

Thirty-five conservation projects across Minnesota will receive $3.7 million in the first round of Conservation Partners Legacy grants, the state Department of Natural Resources announced today.

The money comes from the Outdoor Heritage Fund, created when voters approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment last fall. The conservation partners grants are administered by the DNR and are widely seen as a way for small conservation groups to get a piece of the larger outdoors heritage pot, which receives a third of the new sales tax revenue.

Topic: Art + Culture   

12/21/2009 - The Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) is helping to grant wishes to dozens of historic and cultural organizations across the state just in time for the holidays.

The MHS recently announced the first 30 recipients of Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Fast Track Grants of $7,000 or less.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/20/2009 -

Minnesota's ailing wetlands and shallow lakes could get a boost after the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council last week gave preliminary approval to $56.3 million in conservation projects.

Two projects receiving the most funding focus on restoring wetlands and shallow lakes.

Topic: Art + Culture   

12/18/2009 - Three projects in southeastern Minnesota have received Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Fast Track grants from the Minnesota Historical Society.

Topic: Art + Culture   

12/18/2009 - More than five months after the state started collecting sales tax money to benefit arts and outdoor groups, Rochester area art groups are still waiting for the money to start flowing.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/16/2009 - The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council agreed on a tentative package of twenty-two funding requests by unanimous vote December 15.

Topic: Art + Culture   

12/16/2009 - A northeast Minneapolis meeting solicited thoughts from the arts community and the public on how to spend arts and cultural heritage money from the Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Art + Culture   

12/15/2009 -

KMSU, the campus radio station at Minnesota State University-Mankato, has received a state grant for $238,500 to develop new programming.

The grant comes from the Minnesota Department of Administration through the Legacy Amendment — approved by voters last year — which increases the sales tax to provide for wildlife habitat, conservation and arts and cultural heritage projects.

Topic: Art + Culture   

12/13/2009 - The big gift from Minnesota voters is starting to arrive, and it’s one that’s having an impact on everything from small-mouth bass to bike trails to ballet.

Topic: Clean Water   

12/10/2009 - The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is using money raised through a 2009 increase in the state's sales tax for a water quality project in southeastern Minnesota.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/02/2009 -

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has appointed Ryan Bronson to the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.

Bronson, of Eagan, has been a conservation specialist with Anoka-based Federal Premium Ammunition since 2007.

Topic: Art + Culture   

12/02/2009 - Sheila Smith, executive director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, reports on the new grants programs.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/01/2009 - Mike Kilgore received the award from the noted nonprofit last October for his work as chair of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, a Minnesota Legislature advisory body. The 49-year-old Mora, Minn., native is one of 12 people, (eight citizens and four legislators,) in charge of “restoring, protecting, and enhancing Minnesota’s wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife” according to the state of Minnesota.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

11/23/2009 - The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council is committed to getting as much conservation value as we possible can for each dollar expended from the Outdoor Heritage Fund. I write this column to show one of the several ways we are trying to make that happen.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

11/20/2009 - Anoka County is submitting three projects for funding under the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regional park legacy grant program.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

11/20/2009 - The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council will hear nearly $148 million worth of requests as it assembles funding recommendations for the second round of dedicated funding.

Topic: Art + Culture   

11/18/2009 - The Minnesota Historical Society is seeking applicants for almost $7 million in grants available for history-based projects paid for with money from the constitutional amendment that raised the sales tax.

Topic: Art + Culture   

11/15/2009 - Mayor Jerry Miller said he wants all four city elementary schools to stay open and will vote to list them on the local historic register if they qualify.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

11/13/2009 - Darby Nelson, president of the board of Conservation Minnesota and a member of the state's Outdoor Heritage Council, discusses new applications for Legacy Amendment funding for fish, game and wildlife habitat conservation.

Topic: Art + Culture   

11/12/2009 -
The legislature has required the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB), Historical Society, and Humanities Commission to set up a planning group and process to recommend 10 and 25 year plans for the Arts and Culture Fund. There will be six public hearings at which they will take public testimony about what should be in the plan. It cannot be stressed more urgently that the arts voice needs to be heard loud and clear at these hearings.

Topic: Art + Culture   

11/11/2009 - The campus radio station at St. Cloud State University will be receiving Legacy Amendment funds to expand arts and outdoors coverage.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

11/11/2009 - The New Ulm City Council authorized Tuesday the Park and Recreation Department to submit a Park Legacy grant request for funds to provide primitive camping in Minnecon Park.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

11/10/2009 -

Three trout streams around the state have been restored with funds from the Outdoor Heritage Fund, one of the projects that gets money from the additional sales tax money generated by the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy constitutional amendment passed in 2008.

Minnesota Trout Unlimited chapters are using a $2,050,000 grant to clean up 12 streams in 10 counties.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

11/04/2009 - City councilors got an ear-full from several area residents about the Park & Recreation Department's proposed grant application to help fund development of primitive camping areas in Minnecon and Riverside parks during a public hearing on the subject Tuesday night.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

11/04/2009 - Several weeks ago the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council made its final field tour of the season by visiting the last of our five ecological planning sections. These tours provide council members with important insights into the kinds of lands and conservation opportunities existing in different parts of the state. This trip through several parts of our Metropolitan Urbanizing Section was an eye opener.

Topic: Art + Culture   

11/03/2009 - State Sen. Richard Cohen was instrumental in the arts and cultural heritage funding provisions of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

11/02/2009 - The 100-mile multi-use Heartland Trail extension from Park Rapids to Moorhead is estimated at $24 million. City officials asked state senators Wednesday night for bonding money to help with the cost. Frazee City Manager Jon Smith said the city has been working on a grant through the Legacy Fund to use as a community connector to get a trail through the city that will connect with the Heartland.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

10/30/2009 -

Douglas County commissioners approved an application for a State of Minnesota Regional Park Legacy Grant, which would cover the majority of the costs – about 75 percent – for the project.

Topic: Art + Culture   

10/30/2009 - Arts institutions and supporters and artists themselves offered thoughts on how arts and cultural heritage funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment should be spent.

Topic: Art + Culture   

10/23/2009 - The Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Minnesota Humanities Center will host the second in a series of listening sessions to obtain public input for a 10-year plan and 25-year framework for the use of funds made available through the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund (ACHF) in Chisholm on Oct. 27.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

10/23/2009 - Darby Nelson, president of Conservation Minnesota's board and a member of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, writes on the issue of prairie seeds in the work of restoring Minnesota prairies.

Topic: Clean Water   

10/22/2009 - The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is receiving funds for drinking water protection from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. Conservation Minnesota asked the agency to detail how it will spend the money.

Topic: Art + Culture   

10/18/2009 - Sheila Smith, executive director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, provides an update on arts and cultural heritaage funding from thte Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

10/14/2009 - Last week I described how the state Constitution; the Legislative Guide that the legislature directed the Council and legislators to produce; and the twelve investment goals of the House Cultural and Outdoor Heritage Finance Division create part of the context within which the Council does its work.
 
I need to complete the list

Topic: Clean Water   

10/14/2009 - The Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment approved by Minnesota voters almost a year ago is providing $750,000 to match federal funds in a cleanup of contaminated sediments in the St. Louis River and Duluth Harbor.

Topic: Art + Culture   

10/14/2009 -

In November 2008, Minnesota voters passed the Legacy Amendment to provide funds to the arts and natural preservation, and now some of that money is coming to Austin.

But how, when and how much is still to be determined.

The Southeastern Libraries Cooperating system, which oversees the local library, is set to receive $800,000 a year for two years to fund a variety of projects.

Topic: Art + Culture   

10/09/2009 -
The agencies and programs that received legislative appropriations from the four arts and cultural heritage funds are scrambling now to create programs to make grants across the state. Many of these plans are not yet finalized, but a road map is now emerging for arts and culture organizations and artists in terms of how to access the resources in the Arts and Culture Fund. Because the funds have gone to multiple agencies, artists and arts organizations would be well advised to pay attention to these mulitple "Access Points" for Arts and Culture Fund dollars

Topic: Art + Culture   

10/07/2009 - The Minnesota Historical Society today announced that applications are now being accepted for the first round of Minnesota Historical and Cultural Grants to support projects of enduring value for the cause of history and historic preservation across the state.

The grants are made possible by a 2009 appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund created with passage of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution in November 2008.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

10/07/2009 - How does the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council make its decisions? Actually we have less latitude in formulating our priorities and decisions than you might think. We do not operate in a vacuum.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

10/01/2009 - With a Nov. 3 deadline for submitting applications for the new Conservation Partners Legacy (CPL), interested organizations should start working now on project details.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

09/30/2009 -
My last column described a set of action priorities the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council has established for the Northern Forest and the Forest/Prairie Sections of the state. Here are the priorities established for the remaining three sections.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

09/22/2009 -

Undeveloped land on the southwest side of Menahga’s Spirit Lake has potential to become a source of quality water and recreational opportunities.

The Department of Natural Resources Fisheries office in Park Rapids is proposing the purchase of 51 acres on the lake with grant monies and donations. Some of the funding would come from the Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

09/19/2009 - Outdoor Heritage Council member and Conservation Minnesota Board President Darby Nelson describes an important new step taken this week by the Council to craft a call for new habitat and wildlife funding proposals.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

09/18/2009 - Outdoor Heritage Council member Scott Rall describes this year's process for determining project priorities for Clean Water, Land and Legacy money.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

09/18/2009 - Money for the $3.7 million program comes from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment approved by voters in November 2008.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

09/15/2009 - Last week, Pheasants Forever (PF) closed on a 233-acre parcel in Pipestone County using funds from the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Fund.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

09/13/2009 - Scott and Dakota Counties have big plans for Legacy Amendment money, including trails extensions and park upgrades.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

09/10/2009 -

A new Minnesota wildlife habitat program was announced last week as having "tremendous potential" for kick-starting projects in a slow economy. A Department of Natural Resources news release invited groups to apply for $3.7 million in grants.

The problem is, applications aren't being accepted. Potential applicants, who complain the program's Web site is confusing, were surprised to learn they couldn't apply yet.

Topic: Art + Culture   

09/09/2009 - Funding from the cultural heritage portion of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment is giving a major boost to Minnesota libraries.

Topic: Clean Water   

09/08/2009 - Although some don’t remember to place it on the list of conservation agencies, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture will receive approximately $11 million in Clean Water, Land and Legacy Funds in 2010 and 2011.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

09/03/2009 - Darby Nelson, a member of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, reports on an innovative new grants program created by the Council.

Nearly all the publicity surrounding the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council and the Outdoor Heritage Fund, has focused on our large grants program, with conservation grants ranging from $400,000 to $16,000,000 our first funding round. We also have established a Conservation Partners Program that is designed to fund grants under $400,000.

Topic: Clean Water   

09/01/2009 - The Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) will receive approximately $38 million over the next two years from the Legacy Amendment to improve the state's water quality. We asked John Jaschke, Executive Director of BWSR, to answer a few questions about what the funding will do for Minnesota.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

08/30/2009 - Varying definitions of a mandate to "protect, restore and enhance" outdoor heritage resources are a key concern of the Lessard-Sams Council.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

08/28/2009 - Darby Nelson, a member of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, reports on the results of meetings with conservation experts to discuss a long-range plan the Council is developing.

Topic: Clean Water   

08/28/2009 - Hennepin County has more than 160 miles of streams, each threatened by heavy runoff that can buckle their banks and fill their beds with sediment. Now the county will use funding from the state's Legacy Amendment to help cities and watershed districts stop their creeks from falling victim to development.

Topic: Clean Water   

08/27/2009 - When the Minnesota Legislature approved $400,000 in funds from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment this year for metro water supply planning, it was trying to stave off a crisis that might not occur for a generation or longer.  The fundamental issue:  how will communities in the seven-county region find adequate water for 1 million new residents, about as many people as currently live in Denver, by the year 2030?

Topic: Clean Water   

08/27/2009 - Clean drinking water, one of the important but sometimes low-profile issues in public health, will get a financial boost from Minnesota's new Legacy Amendment funds. For the first time, a state agency will be looking at contaminants that have a high probability of landing in our water, rather than measuring what we've already been drinking.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

08/26/2009 - General sales tax receipts were less than projected in July, pointing to possible trims in planned spending for outdoors and arts programs, a Minnesota budget official told a state House committee Tuesday.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

08/25/2009 -

Mike Salzwedel, an executive budget officer, said anticipated fiscal year 2010 revenues for Legacy Amendment programs are $234 million, 91 percent of which was appropriated during the recent legislative session. However, he warned that recent reports show sales tax receipts are down about 5 percent from projected figures. He said it is "good guidance," and that a better picture would be known when the November Forecast is released.

Nonetheless, state agencies and other funding recipients explained to the division how they are preparing 10- and 25-year plans to spend legacy funds. Reports are due the Legislature in January.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

08/20/2009 - Bill Becker, formerly of Minnesota DNR, was named this week.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

08/19/2009 -

A new breeze is blowing across the Minnesota landscape, and it isn't just the chill of autumn approaching.

Minnesota politicians are actually starting to listen seriously to hunters, anglers and conservationists.

Topic: Clean Water   

08/18/2009 - The Environmental Health Division of the Minnesota Department of Health is planning to spend $445,000 this year in Legacy Amendment fundingworking on emerging drinking water contaminants.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

08/18/2009 - A Minnesota angler says Legacy Amendment and other public habitat funds are best spent on native fish species that are sometimes regarded as "trash" fish.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

08/18/2009 - About $300,000 in Legacy Amendment funding is expected to contribute to improvements at St. Paul's Lilydale Regional Park.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

08/10/2009 - Cuts made by Gov. Pawlenty have trimmed $1.5 million from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources budget for 2010. Some of the cuts may hit programs that are protected by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

08/10/2009 -

No one on Friday added up the total cost of what professionals believe this region needs over the next 25 years, but it's huge, bordering on astronomical. Each acre could cost $2,500 to $3,000.

But that's what a group of experts on various natural sources said the blufflands part of Minnesota needs.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

08/06/2009 - Darby Nelson, CM Board President, sheds a little light into a recent meeting on the Outdoor Heritage Fund in New Ulm, MN.

Topic: Clean Water   

08/06/2009 - An important part of water sustainability for Minnesota is protecting the sources of our drinking water from contamination. The Legacy Amendment which you voted on last fall has given the Minnesota Department of Health $3.75 million in grants to be used for drinking water source protection and prevention of drinking water contaminants - here's our most up-to-date info on what's happening to that money.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/30/2009 - A record number of project proposals to the Legislative/Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources may prompt cooperation with the Lessard/Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which oversees recommendations on habitat spending from the Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/30/2009 - The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council has scheduled five meetings around the state in August to listen to resource professionals and the public on future habitat protection funding proposals.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/30/2009 - Darby Nelson, president of Conservation Minnesota's board and a member of the Lessard/Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, reflects on how a recent paddling trip on the Minnesota River ties in with the Council's work.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/30/2009 - Hundreds of new conservation projects are expected to soon get underway throughout Minnesota thanks to a new $3,740,000 grant program that begins in September, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced.

Topic: Art + Culture   

07/29/2009 -

Maxine Adams is the executive director of the Lake Region Arts Council (LRAC), which represents nine counties in northwest Minnesota, including Otter Tail. Adams says the LRAC will have access to an estimated $350,000 in arts funding beginning Jan. 1. The goal is to distribute that money among the nine-county area before the end of the LRAC’s fiscal year in June. Another $350,000 will be available the following year.

Topic: Art + Culture   

07/28/2009 -

This week the Minnesota State Arts Board and Forum of Regional Arts Councils continue their strategic planning process to decide which programs will be funded by the new legacy money. The strategic planning process began began in early 2008 with a statewide needs assessment and has included public input opportunities both on-line and in regional meetings. This week they will follow up with a joint planning retreat, which will be followed by more opportunities for public input as they begin program design. The first draft of the new programs will be put together by September, with final plans approved in November of this year. The new sales tax was imposed on July 1, 2009, and funds will build up in the new Arts and Culture Fund until some time early next year. We are hopeful that some of the new resources can get out in the form of grants by spring of next year.

Topic: Clean Water   

07/28/2009 -

Intern Kaye LaFond examines one of the water programs funded by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/23/2009 -

Darby Nelson, Conservation Minnesota Board President and a member of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, provides an important funding update.

Topic: Clean Water   

07/21/2009 -

Beginning this month, each of us is doing our part to clean up Minnesota’s lakes, rivers and streams, and protect Minnesota’s Great Outdoors.

On July 1, 2009, a three-eighths of 1 percent increase in the state sales tax, which was overwhelmingly passed by Minnesota voters last November as part of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Constitutional Amendment, went into effect.

And that’s worth celebrating.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/20/2009 -

Important meetings are on tap in August for citizens and experts interested in influencing a long-range plan for spending of habitat monies from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/16/2009 -

The largest preservation deal in state history will permanently keep nearly 190,000 acres of northern Minnesota forests from being developed.

Topic: Art + Culture   

07/16/2009 -

The Minnesota Historical Society will provide an update on Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment funds and recent actions of the Legislature at a meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Rochester Public Library, 101 Second St. S.E.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/16/2009 -

Two panels that both recommend environmental projects to state lawmakers are at the early stages of working through their differences and charting a course to work together.

At a Tuesday hearing in St. Paul, members of the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) and the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council (OHC) spent three hours with a facilitator to hash out their differences and similarities, both real and perceived.

Topic: Clean Water   

07/15/2009 -

Our summer intern Kaye LaFond looked into the details behind a statewide water plan funded by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. She explored the plan's process and purpose in an interview with Deborah Swackhamer, a Professor at U of M and co-director of the U of M Water Resources Center, which is officially in charge of creating this plan for clean and plentiful water.

Topic: Clean Water   

07/13/2009 -

Minnesota's waterways will soon get a scrub-down, thanks to some new cool cash flowing into state coffers. The money has started to come in this month after Minnesota voters last November passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, providing for a state sales tax increase to go to the environment and the arts.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/13/2009 -

Trout Unlimited (TU) chapters in Minnesota will receive $2,050,000 from Minnesota's newly created Outdoor Heritage Fund for 12 specific on-the-ground projects in 10 Minnesota counties.
 

 

Topic: Clean Water   

07/09/2009 - In the November general election of 2008 Minnesotans voted “yes” more than 1.5 million times for passage of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment to raise state sales tax three-eighths of 1 percent for environment and arts funding.

With 56 percent of the voters approving the amendment, the work began this spring on assembling the infrastructure for allocating this additional money and gathering input from citizens and groups eligible for implementing specific projects.

Topic: Clean Water   

07/07/2009 - Water quality in Wilkin County may be boosted by a new Minnesota sales tax effective July 1 that funds environment and art projects over the next 25 years.

Any grant dollars gained from the 3/8 cent sales tax will likely be focused on water quality and quantity issues here, said Don Bajumpaa, district manager for Wilkin County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD).

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   

07/07/2009 - All things considered, the governor and the Minnesota Legislature did a reasonably good job in this the initial funding from the new dedicated tax, but it is only the beginning. Policy makers and citizens alike will need to watch closely if we are to meet the goals of this 25-year commitment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/07/2009 - A sales tax increase that millions of Minnesotans approved last November took effect July 1, and it won't be long until the fruits of the cash are visible.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

07/06/2009 - The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council anticipates issuing a call for funding requests for our next funding round in September. That call will identify our twenty item list of criteria for funding requests; screening criteria to be used for organizations requesting funding; and elements in proposals that would produce priority consideration of requests.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Clean Water   

06/30/2009 - Media around the state report on the projects that will be funded, starting July 1, by the first year of funding under the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   

06/29/2009 - More than $300 million in new investments in Minnesota’s outdoors gets going this week with the start of a new state fiscal year, conservation leaders said today. 

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/26/2009 - The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council last week at its meeting in Alexandria approved the DNR's plan for operating the Conservation Partners Grant Program, which will distribute nearly $4 million in matching grant funds to local, state, and federal clubs and organizations.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/25/2009 - Darby Nelson, President of Conservation Minnesota's board and a member of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, describes the importance of environmental education:  "Protecting and enhancing habitat with Outdoor Heritage Fund dollars is very important but, over time its effect will diminish if ordinary citizens don’t become thoughtful stewards of our great outdoors."

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/24/2009 - Lawmakers gave $2 million from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment — a change to the state constitution passed in November that funds environmental and arts projects with a sales tax — to Trout Unlimited. The group plans to use more than half the money in southeast Minnesota, the state’s premiere trout fishing locale.

Topic: Clean Water   

06/21/2009 - We have the answers. Unlike wildlife habitat money raised by the Amendment, most of the funding is going to government agencies to assess, protect and clean up our rivers, lakes and groundwater.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/20/2009 - Darby Nelson, president of Conservation MInnesota's board and a member of the state's Outdoor Heritage Council, summarizes an important and busy week in the Council's habitat protection work.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Clean Water   

06/18/2009 - Mike Kilgore, chair of the Outdoor Heritage Council, along with members Bob Schroeder and Jim Cox, spoke with members of the Clean Water Council at its regular meeting earlier this week.

They talked about the council and the recommendations it made, as well as the principles it followed in making them. Then there was about 80 minutes of discussion about such topics as how the two councils could collaborate.

Topic: Art + Culture   

06/17/2009 - The Legislature appropriated and the Governor signed into law a bill containing $93.2 million over the next two years for arts and cultural heritage programs, which receive 19.75% of funding under the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. Who receives the money?

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/16/2009 - In today's St. Paul Pioneer-Press, Conservation Minnesota Executive Director Paul Austin writes that the state's Outdoor Heritage Council should capitalize on the extensive work that went into a 50-Year Vision for Minnesota Conservation developed by a citizens coalition.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

06/15/2009 - Even as supporters of the Shooting Star Trail gathered on Sunday to celebrate a new section of trail opening through Adams, officials were already thinking ahead to the next expansion.

The next stretch of trail is estimated to cost $900,000. Rep. Robin Brown, DFL-rural Austin, said she is optimistic that funding will be available for the project through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment dollars.

Topic: Art + Culture   

06/12/2009 - With Gov. Tim Pawlenty expected to make budget cuts when the new fiscal year begins in July, one legislator says an agricultural interpretive center near Waseca could turn to Legacy Amendment funds if its existing funding is slashed.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/12/2009 - Darby Nelson, president of the board of Conservation Minnesota and a member of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, provides an update on the Council's summer agenda.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/11/2009 - The citizen advisory council charged with recommending projects for habitat funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment plans to get out around the state this summer. The goal is "to make sure people understand, support, and are part of the process by which money from the Outdoor Heritage Fund is spent."

Topic: Art + Culture   

06/09/2009 - For the historic Sibley House, things aren't quite as bad as they originally seemed.

Earlier this year, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's budget plan included a 15 percent budget cut for the historical society, but last month the cuts were reduced to 8.6 percent of the organization's operating budget.

Then funds targeted for historical preservation were restored when the state Legislature decided to channel some Legacy Amendment revenues into the historical society's coffers.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

06/09/2009 - The state of Minnesota would eventually like to see a trail system connecting Ortonville to Fort Snelling, and Mankato to Shakopee.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   

06/07/2009 - In an editorial, the St. Paul Pioneer Press praises legislative action to develop long-range plans for wisely investing money from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/05/2009 - With its first set of funding recommendations now in the rearview mirror, the newly named Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council has set its sights on the future.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/05/2009 - Because the Legislature and Governor failed to agree on a budget for the next two years, the Governor may make additional reductions in spending for natural resource agencies after July 1.

The DNR's overall General Fund appropriation dropped by about $5 million each year over the next biennium. Both the DNR and the Board of Water and Soil Resources could be in for further cuts.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/05/2009 - Darby Nelson, president of the board of Conservation Minnesota member of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, discusses the Council's work on a long-term habitat protection plan.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/04/2009 - The Rochester region and southeast Minnesota will see significant habitat projects and other benefits from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/04/2009 - The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday signed a binding agreement with Blandin Paper Company to buy conservation easements on 187,277 acres of the company’s forestland.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

06/01/2009 - It wasn't easy and it went down to the wire, but the Minnesota Legislature ultimately passed and Gov. Pawlenty signed a bill making the first appropriations from the 25-year Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/31/2009 - In addition to the purchase of development rights on 187,000 acres of northern Minnesota forestland, Minnesotans will see 6,200 acres of new public lands for hunting, hiking, wildlife watching and other activities under the Clean Water, Land and Legacy bill recently signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/31/2009 -

Anoka County is trying to seize an opportunity to add a large swath of undeveloped land to its parks roster. The county will receive about $1.9 million through the state's Outdoor Heritage Fund to help acquire about 550 acres of open space for conservation in Oak Grove and Andover.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/29/2009 - Despite a tense legislative session, the Shell Rock River Watershed District received $655,000 to build two fish barriers on creeks running into Fountain Lake.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

05/29/2009 - A relatively new player on the scene will receive $400,000 of Parks and Trails Legacy Fund money to compile a 25-year framework plan to guide future spending from the Fund.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/28/2009 - Darby Nelson, president of the board of Conservation Minnesota and a member of the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, describes the Council's most recent meeting, which focused on the future process for making funding recommendations to the Minnesota Legislature.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/28/2009 - In a rebuttal to an article published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nature Conservancy leaders say the purchase of development rights on 190,000 acres of forestland with Legacy Amendment money is a good deal for all Minnesotans.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/27/2009 - Funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment for arts and culture will help limit closings of state historical sites.

Topic: Clean Water   

05/27/2009 - The Bemidji Pioneer editorializes that the Governor's only veto in the Legacy Amendment funding bill makes little sense.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

05/26/2009 - The environment and outdoors scored big in an otherwise rough Minnesota legislative session.

Topic: Clean Water   

05/26/2009 - The only item vetoed in the historic $300 million-plus Legacy Amendment funding bill was $200,000 for the Star Lake program. Its sponsor, Sen. Mary Olson of Bemidji, criticized Gov. Pawlenty's veto as uninformed.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

05/25/2009 - Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the first Legacy Amendment funding bill into law Friday, vetoing only $200,000 out of approximately $397 million allocated over two years for clean water, parks and trails, habitat, and arts and culture.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/22/2009 - A member of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council reflects on the first year of the Council's work and legislative action on habitat funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/22/2009 - Minneapolis Star Tribune outdoor columnist Dennis Anderson recaps this year's legislative battle over Legacy Amendment funding and identifies winners and losers.

Topic: Clean Water   

05/21/2009 - Conservationist John Helland writes of provisions in the Clean Water, Land and Legacy bill that have received little media attention.

Article 2 of the final outdoor and cultural resources legacy bill contains some items that differ somewhat from the regular appropriation purposes of the four new funds.  These include a prohibition on state agencies purchasing coal tar sealant, preventing water pollution from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, endrocrine-disruptor monitoring, and amendments to the Mississippi river critical area corridor.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/21/2009 - Late Monday night the legislature made history by passing the Legacy funds bill by overwhelming margins. Money from the Outdoor Heritage, Clean Water, Parks and Trails and Arts funds is now allocated.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Art + Culture   

05/21/2009 - An account of the final negotiations in the State Capitol on the Legacy Amendment funding bill.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/20/2009 - Minneapolis Star Tribune outdoor columnist Dennis Anderson hails passage of a bill authorizing new projects funded by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/20/2009 - Saint Paul Pioneer Press outdoor columnist Chris Niskanen criticizes proposals made by some State House members that he says would have changed the state's conservation policies without public input.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Art + Culture   

05/20/2009 - MinnPost reports on groundbreaking work that will be funded by a Legacy Amendment funding bill the Legislature approved Monday night.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/20/2009 - If the bill is signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the largest cultural beneficiary in the bill will be the Minnesota State Arts Board, which stands to receive $21.6 million a year. Seventy percent of that money will be earmarked for the agency to re-grant throughout the state; 30 percent will flow to the state's 11 regional arts councils.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

05/19/2009 - On the final night of the regular legislative session, the Minnesota House and Senate approved a bill allocating nearly $400 million over the next two years for clean water, habitat, parks and trails and the arts. Minnesota voters last November approved the funding by passing the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

05/19/2009 - Here are several articles on final legislative passage of a bill appropriating Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment Monday night.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

05/19/2009 - Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota Executive Director Beth Coleman issued the following statement after both the House and Senate passed a conference committee report late last night, which if signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, will appropriate proceeds from the Legacy Amendment to support parks and trails of regional and statewide significance.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/19/2009 - A final wrapup on arts funding initiatives approved by the Minnesota Legislature May 18.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

05/18/2009 - The Minnesota House and Senate are entering their final day of scheduled session for the year, with no agreement yet on spending of more than $200 million in Legacy Amendment funding.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/18/2009 - MinnPost reports today on the job-creating impact in Minnesota of proposed spending from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   

05/18/2009 - On a 103-31 vote and after a weekend of wrangling, the Minnesota House Monday night OK'd a two-year, $397 million package appropriating money approved by voters last November for clean water, parks and trails, habitat and the arts.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

05/16/2009 - With just three days of scheduled session remaining, the Minnesota House and Senate are still haggling over details of the Legacy Amendment funding, with no guarantee of passage.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   

05/15/2009 - Governor Tim Pawlenty on Thursday wrote members of a House-Senate conference committee of the Minnesota Legislature to express his views on how they should resolve disagreements over spending from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/15/2009 -

It took seven years of toil for advocates to get a constitutional amendment passed that would provide a steady source of funding for arts and cultural endeavors in Minnesota. Now, a battle is brewing at the Capitol over who should get the roughly $45 million a year.

 

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   

05/15/2009 - A Minnesota state legislative conference committee adjourned early this morning with little progress towards an agreement on handing out $234 million in new sales tax proceeds. Lawmakers are sharply divided over what conditions to attach to the money.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/14/2009 - Few in politics are as cynical as conservationists, particularly those who ply the Capitol hallways in St. Paul. Theirs has long been a frustrating battle, attempting to sustain the state's lakes, prairies and forests against, usually, vastly more powerful economic interests.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/14/2009 - Darby Nelson provides the latest on legislative negotiations over spending from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic:

05/14/2009 - By: Nolan O'Brien, Legislative Assistant
Discusses the debate over who should become the fiscal agent for the Conservation Partners Grant Program. 

History repeated itself last Friday, May 8, when the House of Representatives voted against adopting Rep. Rick Hansen's amendment to the Cultural and Outdoor Heritage bill, H.F. 1231.  His amendment, among other things, would have re-installed the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) as the fiscal agent for the Conservation Partners Grant Program, an option that costs less and ensures no conflict of interest.  One month earlier, in, dare I say, a wanton manner the State Government Finance Division Committee, chaired by Rep. Phyllis Kahn, replaced the NFWF from the bill with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).  In this post I look more closely at this quick, and potentially permanent, decision.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/13/2009 - St. Paul PIoneer Press outdoors columnist Chris Niskanen criticizes the Minnesota House's version of Legacy Amendment habitat funding legislation.

Topic: Clean Water   

05/13/2009 -

In the final days and hours of the legislative session, it will be tempting for the Legislature and governor behind closed doors to cut existing sources of conservation and environmental funding and replace the cuts with Legacy Amendment funds. But the constitutional language the voters approved prohibits that. We need you to tell the Legislature and governor to respect the Constitution and fund vital new water initiatives, not old programs with the Amendment dollars.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Clean Water   

05/13/2009 - By: Nolan O'Brien, Legislative Assistant

I spent the last two days listening to audio reels from the LOHC Conservation Grants Committee meetings to better understand the program's purpose and potential structure, and was impressed by the commitment of the LOHC members.  If you listen to the recordings, you'll find that discussion is thorough and that meetings were well attended - by both LOHC members and knowledgeable presenters like the Greg Knopff from the Senate Council.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/12/2009 - The Nature Conservancy, Pheasants Forever and other environment, conservation, wildlife, fishing and hunting groups have written the Speaker of the Minnesota House, protesting that the House bill appropriating funds from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment is unworkable.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

05/12/2009 - The Minnesota House and Senate have passed differing versions of legislation appropriating the first dollars from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. A House-Senate conference committee will now try to resolve the differences.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/12/2009 - Major differences in spending proposals for Legacy Amendment dollars between the Minnesota House and Senate would have major impact on arts organizations.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/12/2009 - The Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota is seeking funding from the arts and cultural heritage fund created by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/11/2009 - Two Winona County trout streams may benefit from proceeds of a new state sales tax to fund environmental protection and the arts, under a plan approved by a Minnesota House committee this week.

Pickwick Creek and the Whitewater River, Middle Branch, are targeted for habitat restoration by Minnesota Trout Unlimited.

Topic: Clean Water   

05/11/2009 - As the last full week of this year's regular legislative session commences, the Legacy Amendment bills will begin heading into conference committee action.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/09/2009 - The House and Senate have taken radically different positions on Amendment spending which could have a huge impact on the arts

Topic: Clean Water   

05/09/2009 - Conservation Minnesota Executive Director Paul Austin and Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy's Paul Aasen say $6.5 million should be included in the Legislature's Amendment funding package to stop raw sewage flushing into Minnesota lakes and streams.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/09/2009 -

The Minnesota Legislature gave overwhelming approval Friday evening to bills that direct more than $300 million over the next two years to outdoors habitat, parks and trails, water cleanup and the arts.

After three hours of debate, the House voted 78-51 for the package, widely considered to be an outdoors and cultural legacy bill for future generations. Earlier, the Senate gave preliminary approval to four bills covering those areas, with final votes slated for Monday.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/08/2009 - How do you define cultural heritage? That's one of the questions to emerge while legislation on implementing the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment works its way to the governor's office

Topic: Clean Water   

05/08/2009 - Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday vetoed $15 million in funding in the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency budget that would have supported monitoring and testing of the state's lakes and rivers.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/08/2009 - The NRA now joins a host of other organizations, including Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited and the Minnesota Waterfowl Association, in opposing HF 1231.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/08/2009 - The Indian Affairs Council is requesting money from the constitutional legacy fund be used to supplement what it does already for the state under the private cemeteries act and under a mandated, unfunded federal law.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/07/2009 -

Anyone hanging around this year's legislative session has heard, over and over, that "everything's on the table."

Let's take our natural resources off the table.

Topic:

05/07/2009 - By: Nolan O'Brien, Legislatuive Assistant

Next week I will explore the discussion on the Conservation Partners Program.   The Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council is required by Minnesota statute to establish a Conservation Partners Program, designed to encourage and support local conservation efforts. Though the goal of the program is simple, the execution of the program may not be. 

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/06/2009 -

Committee chair, Rep. Mary Murphy, DFL-Duluth, said one of the biggest struggles was to get people with very different interests to understand they are working on a common goal.

She said the bill is the result of weeks of testimony about the potential impact of the money over the next 25 years, especially in the face of an economic downturn.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/06/2009 - A State House committee divided Tuesday over habitat funding administration costs, the name of an outdoor advisory council and the role of a clean water council.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/06/2009 - Darby Nelson provides an up-to-the-minute update on State House of Representatives action on habitat funding from the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Clean Water   

05/05/2009 - The House Outdoor and Cultural Resources Finance Division today (May 5) approved its version of a bill appropriating first-time monies from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy state constitutional amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/05/2009 - By: Nolan O'Brien, Legislative Assistant

The Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council recommended two proposals submitted by Ducks Unlimited, Inc. that protect and enhance Minnesota’s shallow lakes: the “Accelerated Shallow Lake Restorations and Enhancements” proposal, and the “Shallow Lake Critical Shoreland Easement” proposal. The first allocates $2,528,000 to the restoration and enhancement of shallow lake habitats ($400,000 of which could be used for easement acquisition) and the latter allocates $450,000 to the acquisition of easements associated with shallow lakes. Ducks Unlimited, Inc. would work closely with the DNR and the US Fish and Wildlife. I spoke with Jon Schneider, the conservation program manager for Ducks Unlimited, to learn more about these proposals.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/04/2009 - John Helland reviews bills accompanying appropriations from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, and identifies some issues and concerns.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

05/04/2009 -

A draft of the Minnesota House's legacy bill for outdoors habitat, water, parks and trails and the arts was released Friday and will get its first airing early this week.

After hearing spending proposals in those areas for several months, the Cultural and Outdoor Resources Finance Division will take up the bill Tuesday, likely sending it to the finance committee for action the next day.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/04/2009 - Bills making their way through the Minnesota Legislature would take money from the new "Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment" in 2010 to create a group made up of the 11 tribes, and other interested parties, to inventory what is being done and to investigate what still needs to happen to revitalize the Dakota and Ojibwe languages.

Topic: Art + Culture   

05/04/2009 - Minnesota arts and history groups are asking the Legislature for a share of the arts and cultural heritage funding that was approved as part of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/04/2009 -

While some legislators have questioned the recommendations of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council (LOHC) -- the citizens-legislative group that has suggested how $68.6 million in new sales tax dollars for the outdoors should be spent -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty has sounded a note of support.

Pawlenty recently sent a letter to legislative leaders, urging them to approve the council's recommendations.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   

05/01/2009 - Darby Nelson comments on today's release of a Minnesota House bill recommending funding from the new Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

05/01/2009 - Both the Minnesota House and Senate are poised to act on bills appropriating the first batch of money from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic:

05/01/2009 - By Nolan O'Brien, Conservation Minnesota's Legislative Assistant

The Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council recommended that $500,000 in fiscal year 2010 fund the Minnesota Land Trust's Bluffland Prairie Protection Initiative, which secures easements to protect critical prairies and grassland habitats in the Blufflands in southeastern Minnesota.  A list of proposed fee title and easement acquisitions must be provided as part of the required accomplishment plan.  I spoke with Kris Larson, the Director of Conservation for the Minnesota Land Trust, to learn more about the project.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

05/01/2009 - The Minnesota House Cultural and Outdoor Resources Finance Division has posted a 96-page bill containing tentative recommendations for the spending of funds from the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/30/2009 - There's a tug-of-war between legislators, who have the ultimate authority on spending the money and members of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council, the group that was set up to review proposals and recommend projects.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/30/2009 - The state has reached a tentative deal with a Finnish company to buy conservation easements on about 190,000 acres of forest land in northern Minnesota -- at a cost to taxpayers less than previously expected.

Topic: Parks + Trails   Clean Water   

04/29/2009 -

Proposals to spend almost half the money raised over the next two years through a new constitutional amendment were unveiled Tuesday in the Minnesota Senate and quickly cleared their first hurdles.

The plans include one to spend $151 million for water protection and cleanup and another to direct $65 million to parks and trails.

Topic:

04/29/2009 - Dozens of environmental projects to be paid for with new sales tax money are a step closer to reality, after a Senate committee vote Tuesday.

The Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Budget Division approved more than $300 million in projects over the next two years.

Topic:

04/29/2009 - By Nolan O'Brien, Conservation Minnesota's Legislative Assistant

The Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council recommended that $1,900,000 fund the acquisition of 550 acres of land at the confluence of the Rum River and Cedar Creek in Anoka County. This is the first of two planned appropriations for this acquisition.  I spoke with John VonDeLinde, the Director of Parks and Recreation, to learn about this proposal

Topic: Clean Water   

04/28/2009 - Paul Aasen of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy today praised a clean water funding bill that cleared a key State Senate committee and would use funds from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

River and lake testing will be done in all 81 major watersheds in the state, over the next 10 years.. By comparison, only 20 percent  of the state’s waters have been tested in the 37 years since the Clean Water Act was passed.

Topic:

04/28/2009 - I am a young Minnesotan who helped to vote the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment into our constitution; who is learning the political ropes at the Capitol; who is acclimating to the barrage of political jargon legislators use to communicate; and who is trying to figure out the answer to a simple question: what projects will we fund with our Clean Water, Land and Legacy monies, and are those projects good for Minnesotans?

Topic: Art + Culture   

04/27/2009 - An update on legislative action on arts and cultural funding provided by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Clean Water   

04/27/2009 - Lake Zumbro and Lake Shady in southeast Minnesota are still in the legislative running to get funding to improve water quality.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/27/2009 - Long time Minnesota conservationist John Helland provides an update on legislative actions on the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. In this post he reports on a bill that would require funding be set aside to monitor any land easements purchased with Amendment habitat funds.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/27/2009 - Minneapolis Star Tribune outdoor writer Dennis Anderson expresses frustration with House committee action on the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

04/27/2009 - The Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed by an 18-percent margin, but many people still don't know how it actually works.
    
That's why a local Rochester group held an open forum Saturday.
    
Quarry Hill Nature Center Director Roberta Tolan wants to know how to apply for a piece of the 241 million dollars available through the legacy amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/24/2009 - An amendment to a bill approved last week by a House committee would remove former state Sen. Bob Lessard's name from the council that bears it. The measure is part of a larger omnibus state government bill authored by Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis. It prevents councils, among other things, from being named after living people.

Topic: Clean Water   

04/24/2009 - Minnesota Environmental Partnership lobbyist John Tuma reports on action in the Legislature this week and efforts to protect clean water and conservation funding from disproportionate cuts.

Topic: Clean Water   

04/23/2009 - Sarah Strommen reports on the work of the state Clean Water Council.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/23/2009 - Darby Nelson of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council offers an update on legislative progress on habitat funding recommendations.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/22/2009 - The head of the Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance praises the work of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council and expresses hope that the Legislature will not politicize the habitat protection funding process.

Topic: Art + Culture   

04/21/2009 - Preston Republican Rep. Greg Davids says he will introduce a bill aimed at keeping Historic Forestville from being closed by using funds from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/20/2009 -

St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Chris Niskanen says the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council, using solid science and a stack of conservation planning documents, recommend funding 19 conservation projects scattered throughout 77 of Minnesota's 87 counties. The Minnesota Senate has largely thanked the council for its good work and embraced the recommendations.

But Minnesota House members continue to make political blunders with the council's funding process, insisting on micromanaging the money when the important and hard work has already been done for them.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/20/2009 - The chair of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council, which is charged with advising the state Legislature on how to spend conservation money raised by last fall's constitutional amendment, explains the basis for its first round of spending recommendations to the Legislature.

Topic: Clean Water   

04/18/2009 - Long time Minnesota conservationist John Helland provides an update on legislative actions on the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. In this post he chronicles legislative effortsl to interpret constitutional language that limits the use of the new Amendment funds to make up for cuts in existing conservation funding.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/18/2009 - State lawmakers are criticizing a $69.5 million plan that’s supposed to guide them in spending dedicated sales tax dollars to conserve forests, prairie and other natural areas.

The plan comes from the new Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council.

And some conservation activists are criticizing the lawmakers involved for wanting to change the Lessard plan to spend the $69.5 million.

Topic: Art + Culture   

04/17/2009 - The Minnesota Historical Society announced major proposed budget cuts Thursday, and some are speculating money from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment will be appropriated to close the gap.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/17/2009 - Darby Nelson of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council offers an update on legislative progress on habitat funding recommendations.

Topic: Art + Culture   

04/16/2009 - In a St. Paul Pioneer Press guest column, the President of the McKnight Foundation argues that some proposed cuts in state arts support conflict with the state constitutional Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Clean Water   

04/16/2009 - Minnesota legislators this week were working to avoid violating the new state constitutional requirement not to use new tax revenues from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to replace existing funding for water programs.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

04/15/2009 - A proposal to buy land for a Minnesota state park at Lake Vermillion may be dead as the state and the land's owner, U.S. Steel, have been unable to agree on a purchase price.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/12/2009 - An influx of dedicated state tax revenue leads outdoors enthusiasts to believe a logjam of Minnesota natural resources projects will begin to free up this year.

Topic:

04/12/2009 - By the time this first year of the Legacy Amendment is done, each of the 1.6 million Minnesotans who voted for it (as well as the million-plus who voted against it and anybody else who's interested) ought to be able to sign on someplace and see the principles that will guide legislators to deliver what the campaign for the amendment promised.

Topic:

04/12/2009 -

There's good and bad news coming from St. Paul on money from the Legacy Amendment, passed last fall to help water, wildlife, parks, trails and the arts.

The good news is that a consortium of about 50 groups from the Sierra Club to National Rifle Association is applauding what citizen groups have recommended to the legislature on how to spend the money, said Paul Austin, executive director of Conservation Minnesota.

Topic: Art + Culture   

04/10/2009 - If the Minnesota History Coalition gets its way, over $20 million annually out of the new Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund would create new opportunities for history programs in Minnesota.

Topic: Clean Water   

04/10/2009 - Scott Sparlin has been tracking the Minnesota River from his museum in New Ulm for 20 years. In that time he's gone from denial of pollution to the fact that the river has its challenges. When the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment passed last November, he saw that other people recognized the problems as well.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Clean Water   

04/10/2009 - Conservation and environmental advocates are watching Minnesota lawmakers to make sure they properly spend tax money that is dedicated to the outdoors.

Topic: Art + Culture   

04/10/2009 - MCA is delighted to announce that all of the calls and letters we have generated to Minnesota's legislators are beginning to have their effect.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Clean Water   

04/10/2009 - Environmental and conservation groups are so far generally pleased with ongoing negotiations at the Capitol to spend new dedicated sales-tax dollars on habitat and clean-water projects.

But Steve Morse, executive director of the St. Paul-based Minnesota Environmental Partnership, says he’s not about to take his eyes off the prize just yet.

Topic:

04/09/2009 - The Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty have taken good steps toward fulfilling the promise made to the 1.6 million people who approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment last fall, but unless changes are made, some of the money will inappropriately be used to fill holes in the state’s budget.
 
Representatives of several groups that worked on various aspects of the amendment told a news conference today that they were concerned by numbers in Gov. Pawlenty’s budget proposal, and in some of the bills, that would cut the budgets of selected agencies much more severely than the average and might use the new sales tax money to make up the difference.

Topic:

04/09/2009 - The first committee in the Minnesota House of Representatives cleared habitat funding recommendations of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council Tuesday.

Topic: Clean Water   

04/08/2009 - For the past several months the conservation community has gotten to know the members of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council and gained an understanding of the process for distributing the Outdoor Heritage Fund dollars.

But many people still are wondering, what about the Clean Water Fund?  Who are the “water people?”

Well, meet the Clean Water Council.  

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/06/2009 - The Lessard proposal’s impact on this region is focused on wetland and prairie habitat. The language used in the bill is “protect, enhance, restore,” which in practice means adding new land and making sure existing habitat is flourishing.

Topic: Clean Water   

04/06/2009 -

What are the best ways to protect and clean up Minnesota waters — from its groundwater to its many lakes and rivers?

At the state Capitol, lawmakers are preparing their answers.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/05/2009 -

It seems to me that all of us who live in Minnesota will benefit from projects throughout the state. A lot of Twin Cities birders migrate west each spring to view birds at Salt Lake near Marietta. When Duluth residents go pheasant hunting, they go west and south to grasslands where pheasants live. Check Interstate 35 just north of the Twin Cities on the eve of Minnesota’s firearms deer season: Tens of thousands of hunters are headed north, some of them to lands that would be protected under easements the Lessard Council has proposed securing.

This seems basic. Putting habitat dollars to work outside of metro areas doesn’t mean that those of us who live in metro areas won’t benefit from them.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

04/03/2009 - John Helland provides an insightful update on how the Legislature is dealing with parks and trails funding approved as part of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/03/2009 - There is an important movement taking place behind the scenes that every person who cares about Minnesota fish and wildlife resources should know about.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/02/2009 - The 190,000-acre Upper Mississippi Forest easement has received a bump forward as conservation groups formally announced the collection of $9 million in private contributions for the project.

The money strengthens the project in eyes of state legislators - who have the authority to allocate funds from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment - while possibly freeing up some money for other projects.

The easement will allow the public to access the land for recreation, while still allowing the owner, UPM-Blandin Paper Company, to retain ownership and harvest timber sustainably.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

04/02/2009 - As lawmakers consider how to dole out millions in new outdoor funding from a voter-approved amendment, Austin-area residents are making a case for Mower County's Shooting Star State Trail.

The county seeks $600,000 from the state to expand the existing trail west from Adams to Rose Creek.

Topic: Art + Culture   

04/02/2009 - Minnesota Citizens for the Arts is delighted to announce that all of the calls and letters we have generated to Minnesota's legislators are beginning to have their effect.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/02/2009 - The Minnesota Legislature is beginning to make headway on bills to implement the recommendations of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/01/2009 - The Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation has approved a $7 million grant to help buy conservation easements on the proposed Upper Mississippi Forest project in north-central Minnesota.

The Minnesota Legislature is considering a recommendation from the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council to spend $20 million on those easements this year, as well as an estimated $20 million next year, with money generated by a voter-approved sales-tax increase going into effect in July.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

04/01/2009 - Conservation Minnesota's Nolan O'Brien attended Monday's House committee meeting on outdoor heritage funding recommendations and has this report.

Topic: Art + Culture   

03/31/2009 - The Minnesota History Coalition has recommended that 50 percent of the Arts and Cultural Heritage portion specified in the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed by voters on Election Day 2008 be used for statewide history education and preservation. Specifically, half of 19.75 percent of the total funds allocated to Arts and Cultural Heritage would be used for this purpose.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/30/2009 - About $70 million in fish and wildlife habitat projects recommended by the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council passed their first test Friday in the state Senate, where the Environment and Natural Resources Committee unanimously voted its approval.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/28/2009 - A state Senate committee on Friday unanimously endorsed a plan to spend $69.5 million from Minnesota's so-called Legacy Amendment on 19 outdoors-related projects. The action marked a big step forward in the controversy over how to spend money from the voter-approved constitutional measure increasing the state sales tax to provide funding for the outdoors, the arts, clean water, and parks and trails.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/27/2009 -

The Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council approved about $70 million in habitat-expenditure recommendations on Monday. Projects range from about $20 million to secure conservation easements on 187,000 acres of northern Minnesota forests to $13 million for wetlands protection and restoration.

What will happen to the House version of the bill is an open question. The reason: Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, is carrying the bill in the House -- and, though a member of the Lessard Council, he voted against its recommendations, the lone member among 12 to do so.

Topic: Clean Water   

03/27/2009 - A bill that would designate nearly $152 million of the sales tax money raised over the next two years by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Constitutional Amendment, approved in November, for funding the Clean Water Legacy Act passed in 2006 was introduced in the state Senate Thursday by Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm.

A companion measure, House File 2128, to Frederickson's Senate File 1913 was introduced in the state House of Representatives by Rep. Kent Eken, DFL-Twin Valley.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/26/2009 - The House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division passed out H.F. 1086 this week, with some amendments, and it was referred to Representative Murphy's Cultural and Outdoor Resources Finance Division.  The amendments added even more accountability to each of the four new dedicated funds that are part of last year's constitutional amendment victory.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/25/2009 - The Lessard Outdoo Heritage Council faces a time crunch. Here’s the problem: All policy bills must have cleared a policy committee in either the House or Senate by the end of this week. In order to be certain of making the deadline, we have split our bill into two bills. One addresses funding while the other addresses policy.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

03/25/2009 - Policymakers are traveling uncharted waters having to deal with unprecedented budget deficits that will affect every Minnesotan. The Parks & Trails Council's message continues to focus on the many benefits parks and trails bring to Minnesota. The legacy we have inherited contributes in multiple ways to the state's residents and visitors. Let's remember that – even in tough times like these.

Topic: Clean Water   

03/24/2009 - Three cuts to existing conservation programs, totaling more than $3 million, appear to conflict with the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. We are calling on the Minnesota Legislature to reject these cuts and honor the voters’ wishes.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/23/2009 - Money hasn't yet been appropriated from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, and some Minnesota lawmakers are proposing that voters should have the chance to repeal the constitutional amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/21/2009 - The $4 million small grants program is directed at small conservation groups throughout the state. Grants will range from $5,000 to $125,000 with another segment in the $125,000 to $400,000 range.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/20/2009 - A newspaper says the argument that the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council is supposed to balance its distribution of funds based on location lacks substance.

Topic:

03/19/2009 - A look at proposed legislation to create a Minnesota Public Accountability Office for Consitutionally Dedicated Funding.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/19/2009 - A 187,000-acre conservation easement deal in the making is vying for more than $40 million of the money from the outdoors fund, which will receive about one-third of the total revenue generated. If brokered successfully, the deal would place the land owned by UPM-Kymmene, Finland-based parent of Grand Rapids’ Blandin Paper Co., forever in conservation — open to the public, managed for timber and prohibited from private development.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/19/2009 - The author of a letter to the editor deplores what he calls the intrusion of politics into decisionmaking on habitat funding supplied by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/18/2009 - We met Monday to finalize the package of projects tentatively accepted last week. Our meeting was surprisingly short on discussion.

Topic: Art + Culture   

03/18/2009 - At a hearing that ran until 2 a.m. Tuesday, arts advocates called for wise investments in arts programs using funds from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/18/2009 - The package would protect, enhance or restore 232,000 acres, including 129,000 acres of forests, 24,000 acres of prairies, 71,000 acres of wetlands and 340 miles of lakeshore.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/18/2009 - The first round of money from the sales tax increase shows the southeast will benefit directly from several major allocations. The biggest could be $2.05 million to Trout Unlimited to restore 11 streams, including five in this region -- Hay, Mill, Pickwick and Trout Run creeks and the Middle Branch Whitewater River.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/17/2009 - Minnesota Public Radio's News Cut blog has posted a map showing the geographical distribution of habitat projects recommended to the Legislature by the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/17/2009 - The Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council on Monday morning in St. Paul approved $655,000 for fish barriers in the Shell Rock River Watershed District. The barriers are part of a project to limit carp in local lakes and improve water quality.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/17/2009 -

The Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council Monday formally adopted almost $69 million in outdoors conservation projects.

Despite some continuing reservations over whether the Twin Cities metropolitan area is underrepresented and too much emphasis is paid to land and easement acquisition instead of habitat restoration, the 12-member body endorsed it on an 11-1 vote.

Full Saint Paul Pioneer Press story here.

Topic: Art + Culture   

03/17/2009 - Dozens of arts supporters testified at a Capitol hearing Monday night on how to spend new sales tax money for the arts.

The marathon session lasted until early this morning, as speakers suggested a huge number of projects for the approximately $47 million available for arts funding.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/17/2009 - Supporters of a constitutional amendment that increased the state sales tax to fund natural resource conservation expressed elation Monday after the council charged with allocating the money approved a $68.6 million package of 19 conservation projects.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

03/16/2009 - The Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota has outlined principles it hopes the Governor and Legislature will follow in appropriating parks and trails funds from the new Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/15/2009 - Conservationists from the Brainerd area are putting together proposals for habitat funding to bring forward next year.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Clean Water   

03/15/2009 -

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/15/2009 - In the Mankato Free Press, columnist John Cross deplores complaints of regional imbalance in proposed spending on wildlife habitat.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/15/2009 - State Senator Ellen Anderson argues in favor of spending habitat protection money in and close to the metro.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/14/2009 - The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorializes that the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council is doing the job it was intended to do with its recommendations for habitat spending from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/13/2009 - The elephant in the room few want to talk about publicly at the Capitol, and particularly at meetings of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council, is the crassness with which two legislators on the panel, Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, and Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, argue that fish and wildlife funds dispersal by the council should be recommended based in part on geography, such as: metro vs. outstate.

Topic: Art + Culture   

03/12/2009 - Though budget cuts and economic hard times are affecting the arts, Minnesota voters have assured some continuity in arts funding through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/12/2009 - On March 9 the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council tentatively identified 16 proposals for funding. Our Council website will soon post these projects. We are to finalize the package on March 16, after gathering additional information.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/11/2009 - The St. Paul Pioneer Press editorializes that habitat money from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment should not become a legislative free-for-all.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/11/2009 -

Hunters, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts will continue to have access to 187,000 acres of forest lands in northern Minnesota if tentative recommendations of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council are accepted.

The 12-member, citizen-led council on Monday made tentative recommendations about how to spend $68.5 million on fish, game and wildlife projects statewide. The money comes from sales taxes generated by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment that voters passed last fall.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/10/2009 - At Monday's Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council meeting, members gave preliminary approval to a list of recommended habitat projects for legislative approval, but differed over whether the list contains the right mix of metro and rural projects.

Topic: Clean Water   

03/10/2009 - It's interesting when one looks at the constitutional amendment language - Minnesota Constitution, Article XI, Section 15 - to realize that the strongest mandate for expenditure of funds is for the Sustainable Drinking Water Account.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/09/2009 - On Friday (March 6), members of the Council gave preliminary appraisals of habitat acquisition proposals. A list of all proposals receiving support from seven or more members is provided here. Go to March 9 meeting and click on "List of Requests Receiving Allocations from Seven or More Members."

Topic: Clean Water   

03/09/2009 - A bill recently introduced in the Minnesota House would appropriate $750,000 from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to fund a sustainable water resources framework to be prepared by the University of Minnesota.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/07/2009 - Brock and the thousands of other Trout Unlimited members in Minnesota show up. They care. They do the work that we all should do, content in the belief that they're making a difference -- slight, perhaps, but important nonetheless.

Topic:

03/07/2009 - In our March 2 analysis of Gov. Pawlenty's proposed 2010-2011 budget, we've identified three cuts to existing conservation programs, totaling more than $3 million, that appear to conflict with this constitutional requirement. We are calling on the Minnesota Legislature to reject these cuts and honor the voters' wishes.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

03/05/2009 - Is a wetland restoration more important than a prairie restoration? Is improving fish habitat more important than purchasing an easement on forest lands? Surely all are important. Deciding where Outdoor Heritage Funds are best spent is understandably difficult.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

03/05/2009 - In November, Minnesota voted “yes” on the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. Beginning on July 1st, the state sales tax will rise by three eighths of one percent and this money will be allocated for the outdoors and the arts. A variety of interests are competing for this new money and the lobbying, positioning and politicking has already begun. The question is: Will hikers benefit from this amendment?

Topic:

03/03/2009 - The Mankato Free Press argues the traditional budgets of conservation programs shouldn't be cut disproportionately merely because of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. In fact, the Amendment forbids this.

Topic:

03/03/2009 - The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports on the process that will lead up to final spending decisions this year on the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic:

03/03/2009 - Governor Pawlenty’s proposed 2010-2011 conservation budget appears to be inconsistent with the state constitution in several ways, Conservation Minnesota reported.

Topic:

03/02/2009 - A change in Minnesota's Constitution will soon mean up to $300 million in new money annually for Conservation, water quality, parks and arts programs — and that's on top of what those programs already receive from the state budget. Or is it?

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/28/2009 - Minneapolis Star Tribune outdoor columnist Dennis Anderson praises the efficiency and inclusiveness of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council, but says some legislators are undermining the Council's work.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/28/2009 - Profiles of the four legislators and eight citizens appointed to the Council, which recommends to the legislature how to invest habitat funds generated by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/27/2009 - Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council member Darby Nelson discusses how the group is soliciting and evaluating proposals for Amendment funding.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/26/2009 -

Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, is a member of the Lessard council and chair of the Senate Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Division. She said the Upper Mississippi Forest proposal would make it difficult to pay for other proposals.

“There’s a lot of priorities because we’ve got to do wetlands, we’ve got to do prairies, we’ve got to do habitat in general. Forests are not the only priority,” Anderson said. “One of the big questions is: Is it urgent that we have to do it all now?”

Topic:

02/26/2009 - Rep. Jean Wagenius has introduced H.F. 1086, which would create the Office of Public Accountability for Constitutionally Dedicated Natural Resource Funding. Its duties would include "the development and maintenance of a user-friendly, public-oriented Web site that informs, educates, and demonstrates to the public how the constitutionally dedicated funds for natural resources in the outdoor heritage fund, clean water fund, parks and trails fund, and environment and natural resources trust fund are being expended."

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/25/2009 - MinnPost reports on an arts advocacy day at the Capitol Tuesday, during which advocates called for full funding of the arts in light of voter approval of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Clean Water   

02/24/2009 - How should Minnesota spend $100 million a year in taxpayers’ money on clean water? More than a few state legislators are asking the question – overlooking the answer right in front of them.

Topic:

02/24/2009 -

When passed in November, the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment promised a substantial amount of new revenue targeted at supplementing existing Minnesota conservation efforts.

But with the looming budget deficit, Minnesota’s conservation agencies are facing a 23 percent cut in the amount of money they receive from the state’s general fund, leading some to questions as to whether the deep cuts are related to expected revenues from the amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/23/2009 - The big federal stimulus package was signed by President Obama last week, and more details about what's in it for whom are continually trickling out.

And, with news that $5+ billion dollars in the stimulus package is for natural resources and water quality purposes nationwide, Minnesota's conservation community will be watching to see how the new federal money will relate to the new state money available from last year's constitutional amendment victory.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/22/2009 -

More than 187,000 acres of forest and wetlands in north-central Minnesota, an area almost as large as the entire existing state parks system, would be protected permanently under a proposal that will be unveiled Monday at the state Capitol.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/20/2009 - Themes for the summit are the economic and non-economic values of wetlands, and the impact of dedicated funding on wetlands restoration and preservation. Morning sessions will include a presentation on the impacts of wetland loss and a talk by Mike Kilgore, interim chair of the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council. The Council will recommend projects to be funded by the sales tax increase voters approved in the last general election.

Topic:

02/18/2009 - As Minnesota lawmakers consider huge cuts in conservation funding proposed by Governor Pawlenty, many are asking aloud how to square any cuts with voter approval of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment last November, which called for increased investment in lakes, habitat and parks.

Conservation Minnesota has the simple answer: any cuts (or increases in years of economic recovery) should be in proportion to the overall budget.

Topic: Clean Water   

02/18/2009 - In an editorial, the Grand Forks Herald calls for use of the Amendment monies on habitat and water needs in often-overlooked northwest Minnesota.

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/18/2009 - This year, her focus is on funding for the board, and how and which agency will make arts funding decisions once revenue starts flowing in 2010 from the sales-tax increase approved by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment (which could eventually yield $50 million annually for arts and culture).

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/17/2009 - Joe Soucheray’s recent column in the Pioneer Press raised issues about administrative costs for the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council and its members. Since the Council is absolutely committed to having a fully open process, we welcome the press in helping us inform the general public about disposition of Outdoor Heritage Fund dollars.
 
We ask that such “help,” however, be accurate.

Topic:

02/16/2009 - The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorializes against pork barrel politics in the spending of money from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/16/2009 -

One concern of the new Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, which increased the state sales tax to fund natural resources, is that the general public might not have much say in how that money is spent.

But anyone can offer input to officials Saturday at the fourth annual Wetlands Summit in Bloomington.

Topic: Clean Water   

02/13/2009 - Wow!  Could it be true?  Is Sid Hartman, the bard of Minnesota sportswriting, actually reading Dennis Anderson?  Could Sid really be interested in hunting, fishing, wildlife, parks that allow camping overnight...and even clean water?  It doesn't appear he's too interested in the arts, but more about that later.

Topic:

02/12/2009 - In the wake of passage of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment by Minnesota voters last November, some lawmakers want to make it more difficult to amend the state constitution.

Topic:

02/11/2009 - A preliminary analysis of Governor Pawlenty’s proposed 2010-2011 budget shows cuts in general fund dollars for conservation agencies of 23%, more than 10 times the overall general fund reduction he is proposing for state government as a whole.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/11/2009 - As people filed out of the hearing room at the close of the day, a most wonderful and profound reality struck me. Finally, thanks to the citizens of our great state, we have enough money to make a huge difference for our outdoor heritage. Enough to bring tears to those who love our great outdoors.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/10/2009 - The Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council received proposals for $95 million in projects to restore, enhance or protect wetland and prairie habitat on Monday -- far exceeding the amount of expected revenue over the next year from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment approved by voters last fall.

Topic:

02/10/2009 - Minnesota lawmakers have introduced several bills to tap money from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment for various purposes.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/09/2009 -

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/09/2009 - Minnesota legislators are sparring over whether funding should be provided to support an independent staff for the new Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council.

Topic:

02/09/2009 - Our blogger John Helland asks whether job losses in Minnesota will rearrange priorities for spending from the new Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/08/2009 - Concerns expressed by CM's Darby Nelson about legislation to tap monies from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment draw notice in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/08/2009 - Saint Paul Pioneer Press outdoor columnist Chris Niskanen writes, "Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, recently introduced a bill that would allocate $1 million from the Outdoor Heritage Fund to pay for the Minnesota Conservation Corps to map and monitor conservation projects. This is the sort of end-run legislative mischief that voters and outdoors folks have come to despise."

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/08/2009 - A meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Environmental Protection Agency Lab in Duluth so that outdoors stakeholders can suggest projects and priorities for the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council.

Topic:

02/06/2009 - In a letter to the editor, Conservation Minnesota Executive Director Paul Austin challenges a recent Saint Paul Pioneer Press editorial which argued that cuts to conservation funding are not inconsistent with last November's statewide voter approval of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/06/2009 - Minneapolis Star-Tribune outdoor columnist Dennis Anderson expresses concern about early legislative attempts to earmark funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/05/2009 - The legislature established the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council and assigned the Council the responsibility of recommending projects to the legislature for funding from the Outdoor Heritage Fund. We on the Council presumed they meant it. Silly us.

Topic: Clean Water   

02/05/2009 - Small dams silting in. Not enough native prairie. Forests fragmentation. Box elders and other scrub trees too thick along streambanks. Shelter belts too scarce in open areas.

The list of things Goodhue County residents said the county should focus on to improve its water and wildlife habitat was long and continued to grow as a meeting last week in Zumbrota extended toward 9 p.m.

Topic:

02/05/2009 - Dakota County legislators discussed how funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment will be invested, and Conservation Minnesota's website devoted to tracking the Amendment is mentioned.

Topic: Clean Water   

02/05/2009 - A Zumbrota man organized a meeting to gather ideas on how best to spend clean water money at the community level.

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/05/2009 - Gov. Pawlenty has proposed cutting the arts by 50 percent, and eventual elimination of the State Arts Board after 2011, as part of a package of budget changes intended to balance the state's budget. The state currently appropriates $10.2 million to the State Arts Board and Regional Arts Councils, which go out in grants and services to all 87 Minnesota counties. The Governor's budget proposal flies in the face of the clear message sent by voters in the passage of the Amendment.

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/04/2009 - While we’re working to clean our waters with a new amendment, Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s proposed budget leaves the artists swimming upstream.

Topic: Clean Water   

02/03/2009 - Northland Press published a summary of last week's Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, which engaged in a citizen-led discussion on the protection of Minnesota’s lakes and rivers.

Topic:

02/02/2009 - In the St. Paul Pioneer Press, reporter Dennis Lien writes about Conservation Minnesota's analysis of the Governor's proposed state budget.

Topic: Art + Culture   

02/02/2009 - Proposed cuts to arts funding will do little to help balance Minnesota's budget but do great damage to the arts, says a theater critic for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

02/01/2009 -

Minnesota's fish and wildlife programs would feel the financial pinch under Gov. Tim Pawlenty's budget proposal announced last week.

The Department of Natural Resources would trim all $2.8 million of general fund dollars now going to the Fish and Wildlife Division -- 3.5 percent of the division's total funding.

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02/01/2009 - Minnesota voters last fall approved a State Constitution amendment which will now dedicate an increase in the state sales tax — three-eighths of 1 percent — to outdoors and cultural heritage programs. The lion’s share of the funding will go to clean water projects and wildlife habitat rehabilitation, but other funds will go to parks and trails and arts programs.

But one thing is clear in the amendment — the new funds are not to be used to substitute for traditional funding sources. They are to supplement, not supplant.

Based so afar on Gov. Pawlenty’s budget, he may already be treading on thin ice.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/31/2009 - John Helland digs into the story behind this week's recommendations from the Governor for spending from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/30/2009 - An arts advocate writes:

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has proposed phasing out funding for the State Arts Board — cutting its budget by one-third in 2009 (to about $7 million), to about $3.5 million in 2010 and to zero in 2011. He also wants to make the board a private nonprofit organization instead of a state agency.

However the Legislature tweaks the proposal or doesn't, cutting the arts is counterproductive in the extreme.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/29/2009 - Sheila Regan, a writer for Twin Cities Daily Planet, published this morning an article titled "Arts education and the Legacy Amendment: "You don't want to make a clean lake cleaner."

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/29/2009 - Minneapolis Star Tribune outdoor columnist Dennis Anderson says members of a special panel recommending how to spend new voter-approved funds for habitat conservation must keep its eyes on a long-term vision.

Topic: Parks + Trails   

01/29/2009 - Gov. Tim Pawlenty's budget proposal released Tuesday contained a bright spot for Minnesota's state parks and trails systems.

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01/29/2009 - Some cuts proposed in Governor Pawlenty's conservation budget are inconsistent with the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment approved by Minnesota voters last November.

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01/28/2009 - Nolan O'Brien of Conservation Minnesota attended the January 28 meeting of the Cultural and Outdoors Resources Finance Division & Environmental & Natural Resources Finance Division of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/27/2009 - Current estimates project the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council will have $78.5 million dollars in the Outdoor Heritage Fund in fiscal year 2010 with which to protect, enhance, and restore wetlands, prairies, forests and fish, game and wildlife habitat. A prudent public asks how that money will be doled out.
 
We on the Council understand the extreme importance of accountability as we evaluate then fund proposals.

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01/27/2009 - Governor Tim Pawlenty on Tuesday, January 27 proposed a budget for 2010-2011 that includes the first recommendations for spending from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment approved by voters last November.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/27/2009 - Gov. Pawlenty has announced a proposed nearly 50 percent cut to the arts as part of a package of budget changes intended to balance the state's budget.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/25/2009 - In Sunday's Minneapolis Star Tribune, Conservation Minnesota Executive Director Paul Austin says it will soon be clear whether state officials are respecting the will of voters who decisively supported the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment in last November's election. He lays out a measuring stick that citizens can use to tell whether those officials are raiding conservation funding.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/25/2009 - Outdoors columnist Dennis Anderson of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says the rules of the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources shouldn't be changed at the last minute to deflect monies from habitat projects.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/24/2009 - Some are concerned that funds recommended for habitat projects by the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources may be diverted to other projects now that the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment has passed.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/23/2009 - There are no some early signals of how the Legislature will make decisions on Amendment funding.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/22/2009 - To draw public attention to the need to watch over more than $250 million in new annual conservation funding approved by voters last November, the nonprofit organization Conservation Minnesota is advertising its new watchdog website, http://www.theamendment.org, on the Minnesota Wild’s statewide hockey radio network, which includes 26 stations across Minnesota with top-rated WCCO as the flagship.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/21/2009 - Minnesota Public Radio reports that local musicians want to be eligible for arts money from the new state constiutional amendment.

Topic: Clean Water   

01/21/2009 - The Minnesota River flows 335 miles from Big Stone Lake on the South Dakota border all the way to the Twin Cities, were it dumps into the Mississippi River at Fort Snelling. As with many major watersheds in the state, the Minnesota River has numerous water-related issues including impaired river stretches for sediment, nutrients and bacteria along with too much or not enough water flow depending on the time of year.

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01/21/2009 - While most lawmakers debate ways to pinch pennies this session to bridge the projected budget shortfall, Rep. Greg Davids will discuss how to spend new money. He is the ranking Republican on a House committee establishing a plan to disburse the proceeds from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment that Minnesotans approved in November.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/21/2009 - A columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press contends waterfowl habitat should be a top priority for funding from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/21/2009 - In an article about declining funding for school athletics, Minnesota school officials say some arts money raised by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment should go to support school arts programs.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/20/2009 - Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, told those at the DNR's Wildlife Roundtable recently that the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Fund - meant for wildlife habitat - could make available money being spent on similar projects, primarily those funded by the state lottery, by way of the Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources.

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01/20/2009 - At the first meeting of the House Finance Committee Division on Cultural and Outdoors Finance in January, Chairperson Rep. Mary Murphy gave out a homework assignment to representatives of the public in attendance. She wanted to know why people voted for the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment in November and what they expect from it. The due date is this week. How would you respond to Rep. Murphy's questions -- reproduced below?

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/19/2009 - As mentioned in Outdoor Heritage Council member Darby Nelson's post last week, the Council has now posted a document outlining how it will make recommendations to the Legislature by April 1 on how to spend habitat money from the new Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Art + Culture   

01/16/2009 - The state deficit threatens existing arts funding. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen how arts and cultural heritage funding provided by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment will be distributed.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/15/2009 - A public forum last week raised profound questions about how best to spend wildlife and habitat money from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/14/2009 - At its January 12 meeting, the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council took a big step by establishing a process and strategy for 2009 habitat funding recommendations for revenues raisd by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   Parks + Trails   Clean Water   Art + Culture   

01/13/2009 -

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01/12/2009 - In an editorial, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press discusses the opportunity to spend revenue raised by the voter-approved Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment wisely. The newspaper also calls for full transparency in and documentation of how the money is spent so that the public can know the return on its investment.

To read the editorial, click here.

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01/12/2009 -

Paul Austin, Executive Director of Conservation Minnesota, announces the new accountability site, www.theamendment.org.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/09/2009 - The Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment approved by Minnesota voters in November 2008 will provide an estimated $80 to $90 million per year for habitat protection. At the urging of outdoors organizations, the Legislature and Governor created the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council to advise it on how to invest the money. Darby Nelson, a member of the Council as well as a member of the board of Conservation Minnesota, is keeping track of its proceedings and recommendations on how to invest public money to protect habitat for all Minnesotans.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

01/05/2009 - Darby Nelson, a member of the newly-formed Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council as well as a member of the board of Conservation Minnesota,, will keep track of its proceedings and recommendations on how to invest public money to protect habitat for all Minnesotans. Today he introduces his blog, which will appear here periodically.

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/19/2008 - One Minnesota lawmaker has concerns about "a growing chorus" from some members of the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources that they no longer have a responsibility to fund habitat projects in light of voter approval of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.

More here.

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12/12/2008 -

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

12/04/2008 - The 12 members of the state outdoor heritage council, which will recommend how to spend fish and wildlife habitat funding raised by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, met for the first time on December 1.  Darby Nelson, Board President of Conservation Minnesota and David Hartwell, board member of the Conservation Minnesota Voter Fund, are two of the members. The Minnesota Outdoor News profiles all 12 members.

More here.

Topic: Art + Culture   

11/08/2008 -

Topic: Art + Culture   

11/08/2008 -