Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council

The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council (LSOHC) was established by the Legislature with the responsibility for providing annual Outdoor Heritage Fund appropriation recommendations to the legislature. The Outdoor Heritage Fund is one of four funds created when the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment was passed by the voters in the 2008 election. The Council recommendations must take into consideration the Minnesota Conservation and Preservation Plan findings directly relating to restoration, protection, and enhancement of wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife, and that prevent forest fragmentation, encourage forest consolidation, and expand restored native prairie.

Article XI, Section 15 of the Minnesota Constitution creates the Outdoor Heritage Fund. The Council and Outdoor Heritage Fund statutes are found in MS 2010, Chapter 97A.056. The Council operates under the Minnesota Open Meeting Law, Minnesota Statutes Chapter 13D.

The LSOHC publicly solicits for use of the Outdoor Heritage funds annually. Based on this process the Council recommends appropriations to the Legislature, funding programs consistent with Council visions and priorities. The core of the Council recommendations focuses on funding programs, rather than individual projects. In this manner, the Council seeks to encourage measurable long-term impacts on the environment and wildlife habitat. The types of programs funded to date include land acquisition additions for WMA, AMA, SNA, and state forests; prairie, wetland, trout stream, and forest restorations; and permanent conservation easements. Recipients include state agencies, private non-profits, local government units, and the federal government. In many of the programs multiple government units and non-profits work together for the betterment of the environment and wildlife habitat.

An estimated $100 million or more is available annually for appropriation from this fund. Over the course of fiscal years 2010 through 2025 the Council has recommended, and the Legislature has funded, over 577 requests totaling approximately $1.88 billion for projects focused upon protecting, restoring, or enhancing habitat for fish, game, and wildlife in Minnesota.

As directed by statute the Council also annually recommends an appropriation for the Conservation Partners Legacy (CPL) Program, which is open to all conservation organizations and local government units working in Minnesota. This appropriation is granted out under an open, competitive process operated by the executive branch (MN DNR) according to the specifics of appropriation law. Grants from $5,000 to $500,000 are awarded to local, regional, state, and national nonprofit organizations and government entities. The grants are for work to enhance, restore, and/or protect Minnesota’s forests, wetlands, prairies, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife. To date, over 1000 CPL grants have been awarded to over 260 organization with over 585,000 acres of habitat being restored, enhanced or protected through the CPL program thus far.

“Beginning July 1, 2009, until June 30, 2034, the sales and use tax rate increased by three-eighths of one percent on sales and uses taxable under the general state sales and use tax law. Receipts from the increase, plus penalties and interest and reduced by any refunds, are dedicated, for the benefit of Minnesotans, to the following funds: 33 percent of the receipts shall be deposited in the outdoor heritage fund and may be spent only to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife; 33 percent of the receipts shall be deposited in the clean water fund and may be spent only to protect, enhance, and restore water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams and to protect groundwater from degradation, and at least five percent of the clean water fund must be spent only to protect drinking water sources; 14.25 percent of the receipts shall be deposited in the parks and trails fund and may be spent only to support parks and trails of regional or statewide significance; and 19.75 percent shall be deposited in the arts and cultural heritage fund and may be spent only for arts, arts education, and arts access and to preserve Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage.
An outdoor heritage fund; a parks and trails fund; a clean water fund and a sustainable drinking water account; and an arts and cultural heritage fund are created in the state treasury. The money dedicated under this section shall be appropriated by law. The dedicated money under this section must supplement traditional sources of funding for these purposes and may not be used as a substitute. Land acquired by fee with money deposited in the outdoor heritage fund under this section must be open to the public taking of fish and game during the open season unless otherwise provided by law. If the base of the sales and use tax is changed, the sales and use tax rate in this section may be proportionally adjusted by law to within one-thousandth of one percent in order to provide as close to the same amount of revenue as practicable for each fund as existed before the change to the sales and use tax."