The Minnesota legislative session ends in two weeks and a few bills that would help safeguard the future of our coldwater fisheries need your help getting across the finish line. 

Most importantly, the Outdoor Heritage Fund bill — dedicated to funding protection and restoration work across Minnesota — is at a standstill.

The Outdoor Heritage Fund bill supports the habitat improvement projects Minnesota Trout Unlimited undertakes as well as many other important environmental projects around the state. 

The Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF) bill also still needs to finish making its way through the legislature, though that bill passed the House last week and was introduced in the Senate on Monday.

Both bills steer millions of dollars of dedicated funding to bipartisan-recommended environmental projects.  

Minnesota legislators are running out of time to act on these bills. They need to hear from you. 

Contact your state senator and your state representative to urge them to pass these two bills: HF3879/SF4304 for Outdoor Heritage Fund appropriations and HF3426/SF3857 for ENRTF appropriations.    

Let them know that the Outdoor Heritage Fund supports trout stream restoration projects that matter to you and remind them of their commitment to advancing this voter-approved conservation funding.

Help us make sure our lawmakers keep this money working for Minnesotans. 

Find your Minnesota senator and representative and their contact information here. 

Background on these funds 

The Minnesota House of Representatives has failed to move the Outdoor Heritage Fund bill out of committee. Most of the comments against the bill focused on a project recommended to receive $3.5 million of the $191 million. Attempts to move forward have been unsuccessful. As a result, the Minnesota Senate has also held off on taking action on the bill. 

The Outdoor Heritage Fund is one of four funds created by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, which began in 2009 and will continue through 2034. The ENRTF is funded through proceeds from the Minnesota State Lottery. 

In other legislative news

As the session winds down, we also need vocal support for a bipartisan bill that would ban municipalities from entering nondisclosure agreements (NDAs).

The bill is in response to several municipalities — such as Hermantown, Farmington, Rosemount, North Mankato and Pine Island — using NDAs to keep the development of large data centers a secret. 

The bill passed through key committees in the Minnesota Senate last month, but its companion bill in the Minnesota House of Representatives stalled and its path forward is unclear. 

Make your voice count and contact your representative in the House to urge them to take action on this bill (HF4077). 

Find your representative and their contact information here.

MNTU believes responsible development cannot be done in secrecy and devoid of public involvement. 

That’s why we submitted our comments last week during the City of Hermantown’s public comment period. Our comments outlined the potential impacts of a nearly 300-acre data center in the most pristine part of the Midway River Watershed. 

We asked the city to include a thorough review of these impacts on our coldwater fisheries in their upcoming updated Alternative Urban Areawide Review. We also proposed reasonable alternatives, including reducing the project’s size or relocating it to a part of the watershed with fewer impacts to coldwater resources. 

By asking your state representative to move the bill banning NDAs forward, you can help protect our coldwater fisheries.

A ban on NDAs would prevent local officials from making significant advancements on future development projects without addressing residents’ and tax payers’ questions and concerns.