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State Representative Rick Hansen
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-6828
For more information contact: Christina Gosack 651-296-5524
NEWS COLUMN
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS ARE COMMITTED TO FUNDING CONSERVATION
A lot of hunters and anglers found themselves pretty frustrated with the legislature at the end of last session. I can understand why. We came within a hair's length of getting a constitutional amendment to dedicate funding for conservation on the November ballot. To all the outdoors men and women who wrote letters and called their legislators for the first time to support dedicated funding, my message is this: this will pass. I can say without a doubt that Democrats hear and understand the voice of the outdoors community. Making good, effective policy is usually more of a marathon than a sprint. There is deep support among Democrats to restore and increase state funding to protect habitat and clean up Minnesota waters.
Here's what I hear about conservation from my Democratic colleagues:
1. First and foremost, enjoying the outdoors is part of who we are as Minnesotans, whether you hunt, fish, or boat. It's not just leisure: our tourism, economy and health depend on clean water and outdoor recreation.
2. Democrats are committed to increasing funding for conservation. 65 of 66 House Democrats voted to send dedicated funding for conservation straight to the ballot (the measure failed by only two votes). Many of us saw the failure of dedicated funding as the biggest disappointment of last session, but we're in this fight for the long haul. We must use the 2007 budget process to make sure conservation gets a long-overdue - and permanent - investment.
3. Democrats want conservation funding to pay for protected habitat we can walk through and clean water we can see, not bigger administrative budgets. The outdoor referendum I helped pass in Dakota County in 2002 succeeded because the taxpayers could go out and enjoy the benefits of the land that we voted to protect.
4. Contact from constituents makes a difference on outdoors funding. The postcards, letters and phone calls we received last session put conservation funding at the forefront. All of us who spend time in the outdoors know that our wetlands, our waterways and our open space are in trouble in Minnesota, and these problems are not going away.
We have new legislators in our Democratic caucus with new ideas about how to fund conservation. The outdoors community and its allies in the legislature should keep bringing together groups that have not always seen eye to eye. We believe that providing habitat conservation and protecting clean water are basic Minnesota values. We know that we need to provide the funding and support for our natural resources. We will.
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