Cheers to Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, which just celebrated its fifth year in operation.
The advocacy group Conservation Minnesota recently marked the five-year anniversary by highlighting some of the accomplishments brought about by the funds.
As part of the amendment, in which Minnesota voters approved a small sales tax increase dedicated to water, wildlife habitat, parks and the arts, one-third of the revenue goes to the Outdoor Heritage Fund, which supports projects that protect, enhance and restore Minnesota’s wildlife habitat.
The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, led by citizens and legislators, makes recommendations on how to allocate the funds. Highlights from the past five years include:
- Over 20,000 acres of wildlife management areas, aquatic management areas and waterfowl production areas have been protected, providing new public access for hunting, fishing and wildlife watching.
- 180,000 acres of working forests have been protected near Grand Rapids, conserving more than 60,000 acres of wetlands and more than 280 miles of stream, lake and river frontage, providing public access for hunting and recreation and supporting forest industry jobs.
- 67 shallow lakes that provide critical waterfowl habitat are being restored.
- Nearly 25 miles of trout stream shoreline have been protected.
- More than 10 miles of critical wild rice lake shoreline have been preserved.
- 40,000 acres of private wetland and grassland easements are reducing runoff into rivers and lakes as well as providing wildlife habitat.
Most recently, Outdoor Heritage funds helped create the state’s newest wildlife management area, the 604-acre Veterans State WMA near Clearwater.
The new refuge protects a diverse landscape including oak forest, marshes and restored prairie, which not only offers key hunting opportunities but also provides habitat to populations of eagles and sandhill cranes.
ADVERTISEMENT
In 2008, Minnesota voters launched the initiative by approving a constitutional change to increase the state income tax three-eighths of a percent.
So far, including money legislators approved this spring, about $1.5 billion has been split among four funds: outdoor heritage, clean water, parks-trails and arts-cultural.
According to our St. Paul reporter, Don Davis, the revenue provides money for projects as varied as $334 so the Becker County Historical Society could microfilm newspapers to $36 million for one of several projects to protect the state’s forests.
Nearly 10,000 projects have received funding from the state funding buffet.
The amendment requires that all money be spent on things the state otherwise would not fund. The sales tax increase ends after 25 years.
The program is now in its sixth year, and $378 million is being spent on projects that otherwise would not have received money.
In northwest Minnesota, Mahnomen County got the fewest projects, 82, while the state’s largest county, Hennepin, led the way with 2,081 projects that used legacy money.
Pam Aakre, a Clay County Fair Board member, credits a mural painted on the back of the grandstand to the funds.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We would not have been able to do it without legacy funds,” she said, a comment heard across Minnesota from funding recipients.
