I am often asked what sorts of activities are being funded by the clean water, land and legacy funds approved by voters in 2008.

This constitutional amendment dedicated a new three-eighths of 1% sales tax to four funds. The two larger funds, each receiving one-third of the funds collected, include the Clean Water Fund and the Outdoor Heritage Fund.

Expenditures from these two funds are authorized by the Legislature. The Clean Water Council provides the Legislature with a report and budget recommendation every two years. The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council makes recommendations to the Legislature each year. In addition to offering recommendations for different time periods, the two groups also follow very different processes to develop their recommendations

In full disclosure, I should mention that I am a member of the Clean Water Council. The CWC develops a proposed budget through a series of meetings over a period of about a year. These deliberations occur each even-numbered year, in preparation for the odd-numbered year’s legislative session, when the Legislature works on the budget for the next two years.

CWC recommendations are generally broken down by category, not specific projects, and most Clean Water Fund spending flows through state agencies. Appropriations made during the 2017 legislative session allow for the spending of $100,497,000 during fiscal year 2018 and $111,373,000 during fiscal year 2019.

Buffer requirements take large share of CWF funds
Implementation of the new buffer requirements constitutes a large share of Clean Water Fund funding. The bill appropriates $9.75 million “to restore and preserve permanent conservation on riparian buffers,” $3 million for permanent conservation easements through Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, $5 million to soil and water conservation districts “for cost-sharing contracts to implement riparian buffers or alternative practices on public waters or public ditches,” and $22 million to SWCDs to carry out their work.

Research on perennial crops and cover crops also fared well, including the University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative, which will receive $1.5 million over the two-year period. Another $2.5 million is set aside for research and demonstration projects on implementation of improved management practices. The Discovery Farms program, a partnership including the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, is partially funded in this category, receiving about $200,000 annually in in-kind support from the MDA.

The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council uses a process in which project proposers apply for funding for specific activities. The OHC reviews applications and puts together a package of recommended projects for the Legislature to consider.

Projects funded for fiscal year 2018 total $102,605,000, more than half of which is available for the acquisition of permanent easements or outright purchase. The majority of such projects are administered by The Nature Conservancy, Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited, often with the express purpose of adding to state-owned Wildlife Management Areas.

If you are interested in tracking the activities of these funds, I encourage you to check out these pertinent webpages: Outdoor Heritage Fund spending; OHC land acquisitions through June 30, 2015; and Clean Water Fund spending.

Warren Formo is executive director of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center.