In a time of division and distrust, Conservation Minnesota members helped pass important laws through a divided legislature, helped students and adults alike find their “why” for taking environmental action, and helped educate and connect thousands of Minnesotans with the officials who represent them.
Conservation Minnesota members continue to prove that when we work together, there’s no limit to what we can achieve.
2026 wins in the State Legislature
With a tied House (67-67) and a one-seat DFL majority in the Senate, every bill signed into law this legislative session passed with bipartisan support. Here’s what your support and advocacy helped us accomplish this year:
- Record investments in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure with passage of a critical infrastructure bill, or “bonding bill”, which put $400 million toward a range of clean water projects. While lead service line removal received some funding, it is much less than what is needed to stay on track. We will continue to push for full funding every year until this work is completed.
- Allocation of nearly $200 million in Legacy Amendment funds via the Outdoor Heritage Fund bill to shovel-ready projects that protect, restore, and enhance over 68,000 acres of wildlife habitat.
- Approval of over $100 million in funding from Lottery proceeds for research, education, and outdoor recreation projects, as well as funding for the new Community Grants program, through the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) bill.
- Successful defense of the 100% by 2040 Clean Energy Standard from attempts to weaken or delay the law.
- Elevation of a bipartisan bill to ban the pesticide “paraquat,” which has been linked to Parkinson’s disease and is banned in over 70 countries. While it was not agreed upon in the House, the Senate voted for this provision, and we will be back to work on it next year.
Your advocacy, by the numbers
Each year, we make it easy for Minnesotans to connect with your legislators on the conservation and climate issues that matter most. These action-takers helped power many of the above legislative wins.
In 2026, here’s how many messages Minnesotans sent urging their state legislator to:
- Pass a bonding bill: 380
- Ban the herbicide paraquat: 465
- Pass the Outdoor Heritage Fund (Legacy funding) bill: 503
- Protect the 100% Clean Energy Standard: 8,786
Standing up for the Boundary Waters
Earlier this year, Congress voted to overturn the twenty-year mining ban in the Boundary Waters watershed. Despite this loss, we are proud that Conservation Minnesota members sent more than 1,000 messages to their federal elected officials urging them to uphold the ban—and in the defining US Senate vote, both of Minnesota’s senators did so.
This is just one chapter in the long-standing fight to protect the Boundary Waters, and that fight is far from over. The good news is that we know we can shape what’s possible, because we’ve done it before.
In 2012, less than 10% of Minnesotans understood the dangers of copper-nickel mining. Conservation Minnesota co-launched the “Mining Truth” campaign with partners to change that—and after five years of advocacy and education, 65% of Minnesotans agreed that copper-nickel mining near the Boundary Waters is unacceptable.
Today, 61% of Minnesotans support permanent state-level protections for public lands within the Boundary Waters.
We will keep working with our partners in Minnesota to do everything we can to protect and steward this special place.
Learning what Minnesotans think
“I appreciate knowing the [legislators’] positions on the issues and how they voted on them. I appreciate being educated on the issues." – Conservation Minnesota survey response
Every Minnesotan should know their legislators’ track records on climate, clean energy, and conservation policy. That’s the foundation for our government transparency program. We tell Minnesotans how their legislators voted on key conservation and climate issues. Then, we ask them what they think of those votes.
This year, we sent letters to nearly 140,000 households across Minnesota. Nearly half of the survey responses we received included comments of some kind, from thank you messages like the one above to general environmental support. And while the Boundary Waters were not mentioned in the letters, support for them was strong—20% of all respondents wanted us to know that the Boundary Waters are important to them.
Your support helps keep Minnesotans informed and engaged—and helps us listen to and learn from Minnesotans about what’s most important to you.
Celebrating our youngest conservation leaders
Conservation Crew, our environmental leadership program for middle-schoolers, continues to grow and thrive. This year, over 900 students across 54 schools designed and implemented conservation-related projects in their communities.
Pocket prairies, conservation stations, solar suitcases, and more: learn about the 2026 Conservation Crew Award winners and their projects!
This spring, our Public Engagement Director, BreAnna, visited a Crew to learn about their project and ask them about their experiences with Conservation Crew and the environment. Here are a few of our favorite answers:
Why do you think protecting the environment is important?
- “Because if we don’t do it, I don’t know who will. It’s also fun!”
- “My family does a lot of stuff outdoors, and I want the future generations to have that activity. I don’t want to ruin that opportunity for them because we couldn’t make good decisions. It’s not fair to the other species on this planet.”
Have you brought home anything you’ve learned or taught others outside of Crew?
- “I’ve been teaching my brother the difference between trash and recycling right now, so I’ve been bringing home what I know to him.”
- “My dad is an architect and they’re designing something, and he was planning it, and I’m like ‘put some prairie plants in there!’”
What’s one thing that Crew taught you?
- “Just the big projects alone aren’t going to change the world. The small steps that we’re doing right now is really going to make the difference. And Crew taught me that.”