kids crossing stream on field trip

Protect
The Minnesota You Love

kids crossing stream on field trip (foreground)
News & Stories from Conservation Minnesota
group of kids hikes in forest
Kids explore Voyageurs National Park, our state's only national park

We are dedicating this issue of our newsletter to highlighting all that lottery funding has done for Minnesotans and what legislators and voters need to do to ensure this critical funding doesn’t disappear after 2024.

Two workers walk near wind turbine

Last week, Policy Director Nels Paulsen presented the House Ways and Means Committee with the following letter of support for the passing of HF 1656. This bill would help secure federal funding for energy projects across the state. 

Hiker walks on path near BWCA Wilderness Superior Hiking Trail sign
Superior Hiking Trail to Eagle Mountain—the highest point in Minnesota—in the BWCA

In January, the US Department of the Interior announced a 20-year moratorium of sulfide-ore copper mining on 225,000 acres of land near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA), but this moratorium can be overturned by future presidential administrations. We need to continue to push for permanent protections for the BWCA and the surrounding area, both locally and nationally.

Blooming prairie in Lake Shetek State Park
Prairie at Lake Shetek State Park in southwestern Minnesota

Together with Minnesota’s conservation community, Policy Director Nels Paulsen presented the Senate Environment, Climate and Legacy committee with the following letter of support a bill that supports essential projects around the state that restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife through the Outdoor Heritage Fund

Bull and baby elk at the edge of a forest

We support elk reintroduction alongside the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northeast Minnesota. Elk have historically played a significant role in the diet and culture of the region’s Native people and would revitalize essential ecosystems. Read our letter of support, presented to Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee.

Pine Bough