When Minnesota voters go to the polls on Nov. 5, they will be asked to decide on the future of the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, which dedicates 40% of state lottery revenue to the outdoors.
ENRTF has its roots in a bill passed in 1988, the same year Minnesota voters approved a state-run lottery. As stated on the Ballotpedia website, the ENRTF did not receive any dedicated revenue until 1990, when voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to dedicate at least 40% of lottery revenues to the environment and natural resources. It had no source. Voters in 1998 then approved a constitutional amendment to donate lottery proceeds to ENRTF through 2025.
If passed, it would reauthorize the ENRTF until December 31, 2050, to bring the constitutional amendment facing voters in November (Minnesota First Amendment).
The previous vote to reauthorize ENRTF received over 70% support. ENRTF has provided nearly $1.1 billion to more than 1,700 projects in the state since 1991, according to the Minnesota Resources Legislative Citizens Committee.
The LCCMR (a 17-member commission consisting of five state senators, five state representatives, five citizens appointed by the governor, one citizen appointed by the Senate, and one citizen appointed by the House of Representatives) make recommendations regarding ENRTF funding.
Marcus Starr, campaign director for Conservation Minnesota, said ENRTF funds conservation efforts across the state for the benefit of a wide range of people.
Conservation Minnesota, based in Minneapolis, is one of the organizations leading the effort to uphold the First Amendment.
Marcus Starr, Campaign Director, Minnesota Department of Conservation.
Contribution / Minnesota Conservation
People may not know about a specific project, but they know ENRTF money is at work when they see the trademark loon logo on a sign, Starr said.
“The number one thing we tell people is that in the last 30 years or so since this funding went into effect, more than $1 billion has been spent on conservation and outdoor projects across the state. ” Starr said. “Really, everyone in Minnesota benefits from this, whether you’re a Minneapolis person or an East Grand Forks person. People who use our parks and trail systems or swim in our lakes definitely benefit from this. likely to be the beneficiary of the money.”
Research and infrastructure projects are among the beneficiaries of ENRTF funding. Examples include the Superior Hiking Trail, the Fergus Falls Biking Trail and another trail on the Iron Range, Starr said.
By comparison, the Outdoor Heritage Fund (a sizable fund generated by three-eighths of the 1% sales tax increase that Minnesota voters approved when they passed the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment in 2008) are typically invested in larger habitat projects and wildlife conservation.
In short, the scope of ENRTF is broader.
“These small projects might raise $250,000 to $300,000, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t seem like that much,” Starr said. “But for small communities and small cities to be able to get (ENRTF) funding so they don’t have to figure out how to raise the money themselves is really big.”
More than $79.6 million in ENRTF funding was made available for projects in the fiscal year beginning July 1, according to LCCMR’s website.
In addition to a broad coalition of conservation organizations such as the Minnesota Conservation League, The Nature Conservancy, Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited, and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, organizations such as Hospitality Minnesota and the Minnesota Coalition of Greater Minnesota The state Craft Brewers Association, Red River Watershed Commission, REI Co-op and other retailers signed on in support of the measure.
“They know that parks and trails and clean water are a benefit to Minnesota and that it’s one of our competitive advantages,” Starr said. “It’s definitely an interesting group of organizations and companies.”
Historically, each time the measure has been on the ballot, “more than 70 percent of Minnesotans have supported it,” said Liz Deering, communications director for the Minnesota Department of Conservation. There is no organized opposition movement.
“It’s something we’ve done before and we have a history of doing it,” Dearing said. “There is no organized opposition. There are members all over the place, but there were more than 20 Republicans in the House who voted for the bill that put this on the ballot. So there’s bipartisan support as well.”
State Sen. Steve Green (R-Fosston) is among those opposed to the amendment appearing on the ballot. Greene said in a recent newsletter to voters that the measure as written “would limit public input, eliminate transparency in the project selection process and reduce oversight.”
Mr. Green is also active in LCCMR.
Fix 1 includes some minor changes. In addition to extending the fund through 2050, the measure would increase the annual allocation from 5.5% to 7% of the fund’s current value, with the 1.5% increase earmarked for a new “Small Communities Grant” program. It will be done.
“It’s just going to be a little bit easier for small nonprofits and even rural communities to be able to leverage lottery funds in a way that they haven’t had access to before,” Dearing said. .
Brad Gausman, executive director of the Minnesota Conservation League.
Contributed by Brad Gausman
Brad Gausman of Hermantown, Minn., executive director of the Minnesota Conservation League, an independent arm of the National Wildlife Federation, said the proposed amendment to reauthorize the ENRTF would not raise fees or taxes for anyone. said. It also does not affect the future of the lottery, he said.
“If we vote against ENTRF, it will not eliminate the lottery,” Gausman said. “As a result, Lottery revenue simply becomes the general fund, or at least a pool of money that Congress can appropriate.
“In Minnesota, people vote to increase natural resources, and we’ve seen it time and time again. So we expect similar results this election season. .”
Greg Kubert of Brainerd, who retired in 2006 after more than 30 years with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, was one of the organizers who helped pass the ENRTF bill in the late 1980s.
Kvale (pronounced kuwa-lee), vice president of policy for the Minnesota chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, said the capital improvement portion of the fund “has brought about a ton of on-the-ground improvements to natural resources.” Ta.
Public lands “have been a big part of my career, both professionally and as a hobby,” he says. Mr Kubale said failure to reauthorize the ENRTF would have a “devastating” impact on resource management in the province.
“If we take that money out of the picture, I think our public land resources will be in turmoil,” he says. “They will have deteriorated significantly over the years. They will not have the kind of public access that we currently enjoy.
Greg Kubert, vice president of policy for the Minnesota Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
Contribution / Greg Kvale
“We currently have one of the best programs in the nation for funding project work on public lands. When that runs out, we will have to rely on bonds in legislation approved by Congress. And right now, I don’t think the environment is a high priority in the budgeting process.”
As Election Day approaches, advocates say it’s also important to remember that a blank vote is the same as a “no” vote.
“We’re not debating whether this is a lottery or whether we’re playing a lottery,” said Starr of the Minnesota Conservancy. “To keep this fund going, we’re just saying, ‘We’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing.’
“We know people are behind this. We just want them to know that.”
