WORTHINGTON -- The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council is making a two-day fact-finding trip to southern Minnesota and will conduct two meetings in southwest Minnesota.
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, a one-hour presentation will be followed by public comments in the Commons area at Minnesota West Community and Technical College, Worthington campus.
An hour-and-a-half roundtable discussion will begin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Heron Lake Community Center.
The council anticipates recommending more than $80 million to the 2011 legislature for programs that, under the Minnesota Constitution, "restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game and wildlife."
The council, composed of eight citizens and four legislators, makes recommendations to the Legislature for funding from the Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF). The OHF was established as result of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment, passed in November 2008. This amendment established a dedicated sales tax increase of 3/8th of one-percent. One-third of the dollars raised are deposited in the Outdoor Heritage Fund for expenditure to improve habitat in Minnesota.
