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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
