Today, Minnesota has close to 9 million acres of wetlands. While that may sound like a lot, it’s less than half of what we had prior to statehood. Over the years, nearly 10 million acres of Minnesota wetlands have been drained or filled. Wetlands are a vital part of our landscape because they filter pollution, keeping it from entering our lakes, rivers, and groundwater. Wetlands also provide habitat for fish and wildlife and help prevent flooding by slowing runoff. Currently, Minnesota has a “no net loss” policy for wetlands, but this policy has not prevented the loss of hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands in just the past decade.
Minnesotans have told us loud and clear that cleaning up our drinking water is a priority. In research we conducted in 2024, 95% of Minnesotans—across every region and background—strongly believed every person in our state deserves clean water to drink. And since wetlands are one of nature’s most powerful tools to clean up water, Conservation Minnesota set out to design a policy that would help clean and protect drinking water while also providing all the flood prevention and wildlife habitat benefits of wetlands.
In working to design this policy, our team spoke with wetland experts and consulted a variety of stakeholders, including state officials charged with preventing water pollution, partner organizations concerned with water quality and wildlife conservation, local governments that would help implement the policy, and representatives of labor organizations that would do much of the work.
The resulting policy solution we propose has two parts. First, Minnesota should create a state goal to restore 1 million acres of wetlands by 2050. Second, we should prioritize projects that directly protect community wells and drinking water across the state, especially in areas with the greatest wetland loss, and utilize funding from the voter approved Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to jumpstart the work.
The Minnesota Department of Health has already identified hundreds of locations across the state—more than 1.3 million acres—where wetland restoration and other conservation measures are needed to protect community drinking water sources. And there are already successful stories of this strategy in action. For example, the Worthington Wells Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Nobles County, MN, now protects community drinking water after converting land surrounding municipal wells into permanent wildlife habitat. By replacing permeable agricultural land with native vegetation, it prevents fertilizers and pollutants from entering the groundwater, ensuring safe, clean water for the community and a recreation area for all to enjoy.
We look forward to working with partners and the state legislature to turn this policy idea into action.