Continue reading »]]> On Tuesday May 1, Governor Mark Dayton signed into law a bill containing an appropriation of $2.1 million to enable the Minnesota Council and seven chapters of Trout Unlimited to continue enhancing and restoring in-stream, riparian and lake habitats around the State. The bill, Senate File 2493, appropriates proceeds of a constitutionally dedicated sales tax approved by Minnesota voters in November 2008. This fourth appropriation from the Outdoor Heritage Fund will be used by Minnesota Trout Unlimited chapters and members to improve habitat on thirteen streams and lakes. Habitat will be restored or improved on six northern Minnesota trout waters, two Twin Cities metropolitan area streams and five streams in the Driftless area of southeast Minnesota.

The new appropriation becomes available in July and will fund 2013 field work on these trout waters: Boys Lake, Kimball Lake and Mink Lake in Cook County; a trout stream in Cook County; Camp Creek in Fillmore County; East Indian Creek in Wabasha County; Garvin Brook, Rush and Pine creeks in Winona County; Hay Creek in Goodhue County; Mill Creek in Olmsted County; Stewart River in Lake County and the Vermillion River in Dakota County.

Thank you for all your work on behalf of MN’s coldwater fisheries.

John

Continue reading »]]> Minnesota TU members, anglers & conservationists:

As you are undoubtedly aware, efforts to get the MN Legislature to approve long overdue increases in fishing license fees have stalled in both House and Senate. We urgently need you, your friends, fishing buddies, neighbors, etc., to contact your legislators, as well as the leadership of both bodies.

Current status:

On Tuesday April 17 Sen. Ingebrigtsen attempted to attach fishing & hunting license fee increases to the Senate Game & Fish bill, SF 2171. The amendment failed and the Senate bill was set aside or “laid on the table”.

The House bill containing the license fee increases, HF 2951, languishes in the House, and the House Environment committee has not been permitted to vote on or move the bill. If they choose to, the House leadership can easily move this bill through committee and allow it to receive a vote on the House floor.

Your message to House members and leaders is simple: Give the bill containing fishing license fee increases a hearing and vote on the House floor.

Take Action Now – contact you legislators:

You can quickly locate and contact your legislators by using the State’s legislative website: http://www.leg.state.mn.us You can also call the MN Senate information line at: 651-296-0504 or 1- 888-234-1112. You can call the House switchboard at: 651-296-2146, or 1-800-657-3550

Here is the direct link for looking up your legislators: http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/?address=

Just click on their name and you will be taken to their individual web page. Calls and e mails to the leadership of House and Senate would also be helpful.

To contact Senate Majority Leader Sen. David Senjem:

Call: 651-296-3903 E mail: sen.david.senjem@senate.mn.

To contact House Speaker Kurt Zellars:

Call: 651-296-5502 E mail: rep.kurt.zellers@house.mn

To contact House Majority Leader Rep. Matt Dean:

Call: 651-296-9194 E mail: rep.matt.dean@house.mn

Basic message to the House leadership:

Give the bill containing fishing license fee increases a hearing and vote on the House floor.

A basic message to all legislators:

I am an angler and voter. I believe that fisheries and my fishing will suffer unless more revenue is raised for fisheries management activities through voluntary user fees (fishing license fees) which I will gladly pay. I support the license fee increases proposed by the DNR and want you to vote to for fee increases this year.

Capitol Rally for Fee increases on Monday April 23

On Monday April 23 there will be a rally at the MN Capitol rotunda at 10:30 a.m. If you can make it to St. Paul to show your support, great. If you cannot bend your schedule, you can have an impact by taking just a couple minutes to call and e mail your legislators and key leaders of the House and Senate.

Links to the bills and more information

Here is a link to HF 2951:

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H2951.0.html&session=ls87

The Senate Environment Committee’s version rests in SF 2490. Here is the link:

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/bldbill.php?bill=S2490.0.html&session=ls87

The chart comparing the three versions can be viewed by clicking on the link in the March 17 blog entry on the MNTU website: www.mntu.org

There is a wealth of good information on the DNR’s license initiative on its website. Don’t forget to explore the impacts to your area from dwindling purchasing power of license dollars. Here is the direct link:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/heritage/index.html

———————————————————————————

Previously reported:

Press Conference Held in Support of fee increases:

In mid-March Minnesota Trout Unlimited spoke in support of increasing fishing license fees at a press conference organized by our friends at the Minnesota Conservation Federation. Representatives from Minnesota Environmental Partnership and the Fish & Wildlife Legislative Alliance joined us. MNTU stressed that properly managing fisheries and maintaining their quality requires personnel to gather and analyze data. We also pointed out the key roles which DNR field staff play in identifying, and helping design and implement quality habitat projects. We emphasized that more revenue is needed or our fisheries and fishing will suffer. The ad hoc coalition also distributed a letter to legislative leaders calling for their support for these fee increases. Thanks to those TU chapters who were able to respond on very short notice and join this letter.

Click here to view the letter.

Senate Committee Produces and Advances Bill:

The Senate Environment Committee heard and passed out of committee a version of the license fee increase bill. That bill is now SF 2490 and it can be found at:

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/bldbill.php?bill=S2490.0.html&session=ls87

House stalling:

On March 22 the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee discussed the DNR/Governor’s proposal from 2011, which Rep Hanson had previously introduced, but which had not had a hearing. The DNR outlined the proposal and House committee members discussed it. On March 26 Rep. Hackbarth introduced a slightly different House version. However, since that time the House leadership has prevented the bill from moving forward.

Continue reading »]]> It looks like it is time to call the Governor’s office to ask for a veto of the bill altering the DNR’s authority over School Trust Lands – HF 2244/SF 1889. The issue was covered in the April 3 alert regarding the House Omnibus Environment bill, and those concerns apply to this stand-alone bill.

Strong pressure is being brought to bear on the Governor to sign this bill. Education interests are pushing hard against a veto. The bill’s fiscal irresponsibility alone seems reason enough for the Governor to veto it.

How to contact the Governor:

• By phone: 651-201-3400 , or Toll Free – 1-800-657-3717
• Message him on Facebook
• With his web form (Cut and paste your comments onto his web form)
• Write and/or Fax (Fax: 651-797-1850):
  Office of the Governor
  130 State Capitol
  75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
  St. Paul, MN 55155

Fax: 651-797-1850

The message: Veto HF 2244/SF 1889

On Friday April 20, the Conference Committee completed work reconciling the House and Senate versions of bills to alter the long-standing management of the state’s School Trust Lands. The Conference Report will likely be approved on the House and Senate floors early this week.

DNR Commissioner Landwehr brought a number of serious concerns to the attention of the Conference Committee, including the impact of maximizing revenue on forest lands important to trout streams. Most issues were left untouched. The legislation defers nearly all funding issues until next session, leaving a new, unfunded bureaucracy and a lot of unanswered questions. Among other things, the legislation:

• · Leaves no one clearly in charge of the school trust fund lands–not the DNR, not the new school trust lands director, not the executive council, not the new legislative commission, and seems to assume lots of conflicts to be resolved among these various parties.
• · Weakens environmental protection by overriding management of the lands “using sound natural resource principles”
• · Requires all lands designated for conservation purposes (e.g., SNAs), be paid for or undesignated by 2018
• · Creates intense pressure to sell trust lands, especially lakeshore lands. All land near public waters should be treated the same– no sales without legislative approval. Those parcels require more extensive analysis and review
• · Increases the size of government with a new bureaucracy that will increase costs, maximize inefficiency, and result in no new funds to the schoolchildren. All serious budget decisions are deferred to the next legislative session.

It is also good to contact your legislator on this issue since the conference reports have not yet been taken up by either House or Senate.

Continue reading »]]> Mall of America Stream will being May 14th, with DNR crews doing the work.  If you are open to volunteering during a weekday, please contact Mark Nemeth of the DNR (mark.nemeth@state.mn.us) or Tony Nelson (tony@twincitiestu.org).  On Satruday June 2, TCTU will be laying down mats and re-seeding with the DNR from 10am-2pm.  Please contact volunteer coordinator, Marty Steitz at marty@twincitiestu.org if you have an interest in volunteering 6/2/12.

Hay Creek is In the process of beginning permitting and stream design with the DNR.

Vermillion permits have been applied for and we are in the process of completing the design.  Estimating the project work to take place in August.

Continue reading »]]> Legislation which threatens to undermine Minnesota’s commitment to wetland conservation is advancing. It is time to ask Governor Dayton to stand by Minnesota’s policy of NO NET LOSS of wetlands, and have his agencies press this message. Send the sample letter below or edit it with your own words to let the Governor know why you support no net loss of wetlands.

Where things stand today:

As most of you know, Minnesota’s wetlands provide critical stormwater storage, groundwater recharge, and water purification functions in the watersheds which support coldwater fisheries around the state. They also provide habitat for hundreds of plants, animals, birds and other wildlife. They play important, often vital, roles in every coldwater watershed.

Minnesota’s Wetland Conservation Act (WCA) has received strong bipartisan support for over two decades. The law protects Minnesota’s wetlands, promising NO NET LOSS of remaining wetlands by requiring avoidance of impacts whenever possible, and replacement for any lost wetlands. However, several legislative initiatives which undermine Minnesota’s commitment to wetland conservation are still “in play” in the Minnesota Legislature this spring. Provisions poised to pass the legislature include ones which would:

• · exempt all agricultural land enrolled in the federal farm program from WCA requirements
• · expand loopholes for minimum “free” losses
• · diminish protections for wetlands near rivers and lakes

These proposals put thousands of acres of wetlands at risk, including many near trout streams or in watersheds supporting trout fisheries. These provisions are unnecessary, especially coming just two years after a comprehensive public revision of current WCA rules. They only serve to roll back critical and longstanding wetland protections.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Send an email to Governor Dayton: Ask the Governor to stand by Minnesota’s policy of NO NET LOSS of wetlands. Send an email today to Governor Dayton. Below is a sample letter which you can use or modify to express you particular, heartfelt concerns:

Dear Governor Dayton,

Since the passage of the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act in 1991, every Governor has reaffirmed their personal commitment to No Net Loss of wetlands in Minnesota. Wetlands provide floodwater storage, groundwater recharge, and water purification functions statewide, including for coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. They also provide habitat for hundreds of plants, animals, birds and other wildlife species. The Wetland Conservation Act serves to minimize and replace unavoidable wetland losses. I urge you to voice your support for No Net Loss of wetlands and the Wetland Conservation Act.

A number of provisions have appeared in legislation that weaken wetlands protections and offer a variety of loopholes that increase wetlands loss. Please make it clear to legislators and members of the public that you will not sign any legislation which undermines wetland protection.

Please stand with over 20 years of bipartisan commitment to No Net Loss of wetlands, and voice your intention to veto any bill that allows for expanded exemptions from the Wetland Conservation Act.

Thank you.

Where/how to contact the Governor:

• · By phone: 651-201-3400 , or Toll Free – 1-800-657-3717
• · Message him on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ussmbd
• · With his web form (paste your comments onto the form): http://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/
• · Write and/or Fax (Fax: 651-797-1850):
  Office of the Governor
  130 State Capitol
  75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
  St. Paul, MN 55155

Fax: 651-797-1850

Contact your legislators:

Also let your legislators to support wetlands and oppose rollback of the WCA. To locate your legislator click on this direct link: http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/?address=

Click on their name and you will be taken to their individual web page.

Thank you for taking a few minutes to help stop the rollback of wetland protections.

John L.

Executive Director for MNTU

Continue reading »]]> It is a bit brisk and breezy this morning….in like a lamb out like a lion, the story never wavers. A pair of geese just swam over the trout below Kinni Outfitters Fly Shop, flapping their feet gently as if to say, “wake up trout, today is here!” The buds are growing quickly filling in the Kinnickinnic & Rush River Valleys, signs of new life are ever prevalent. Tomorrow is going to bring rain, so get out today and take a walk in the stream. We’ll see you when you get here ~ Cheers!

Continue reading »]]> I walked out of the main lodge this morning and got blown east all the way over to the Rush River. The wind blew through the night and is trying to up root trees this morning. If you are coming out to fly fish today, be sure to stop in to Kinni Outfitters Fly Shop and get a hat to strap down your wig. We also have fly tying materials for those of you who are allergic to wind.

Continue reading »]]> The shop has been buzzing here at Kinni Outfitters Fly Shop this morning! Several groups of anglers & guides have been in and out, all dressed up in winter gear. The water is gin clear today and the temperature is warming up so the Trout will be getting more active this afternoon. Stop by on your way to the river.