Minnesota’s Outdoor Heritage Fund May Get a More Than $150 Million Boost

(KNSI) — The House Legacy Committee discussed funding recommendations for Minnesota’s Outdoor Heritage Fund at the Capitol today. The legislation includes $159 million toward 46 programs across the state to preserve, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitats for fish, game, and wildlife.

Representative Rob Ecklund of International Falls authored the bill and said it would positively impact the environment if passed.

“Minnesotans deeply care about our outdoors, and we have a responsibility to protect our prairies, forests, and wetlands for future generations. We can easily calculate the acres of land this funding benefits, but the real impacts of this work are almost too vast to measure. We can think about kids fishing along a restored trout stream, thriving forests that provide good-paying jobs while sequestering of millions of tons of carbon, and pollinators – like bumblebees and monarch butterflies that we need to grow food – feeding in lush prairie flowers. Without continued investments in our outdoors, including the projects in this bill, the outdoor heritage we value could be in jeopardy of being lost forever.”

He says without the Legacy Amendment, some treasures of the outdoors could be gone forever. In total, the legislation provides for restoration, protection, or preservation of 80,929 acres of wildlife habitat and 127 miles of shoreline.

The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, of which Rep. Ecklund is a member, vetted and recommended the projects in the bill.

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