As part of our efforts to help protect wildlife and natural habitats such as forests, we volunteers are also frequently able to simultaneously support human health and personal activities that serve and celebrate nature. Some of the Minnesota bills the Stewards have been supporting this legislative session that do so include:
1) House File 1843 continues Lawns to Legumes funding for pollinator-friendly residential & neighborhood demonstration gardens (we are one of the signers on the Minnesota Environmental Partnership coalition support letter as written testimony, p. 37-38).
2) House File 1611 starts Lawns to Lunch funding support for food gardens having vegetables, fruits & pollinator-friendly plants to help encourage more local food resiliency and healthy gardens in MN (we also submitted written testimony).
3) House File 2034 helps fund more of the operations for the Minnesota Zoo, including their wildlife conservation work with national and global partners (written testimony also submitted).
Volunteer Janette Dean remotely testified at the March 20 House Committee Meeting in support of the three bills, and volunteer Dawn Georgieff also testified in person on HF1843 (hearings video). All three bills were laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill, but tighter budgets may harm some of their chances of passage this session.
Our stewards group’s steadfast work to protect wildlife habitats with better state management of motorized vehicle recreation was also rewarded with a much-awaited hearing on the same day, with many of our coalition’s supporters in attendance to support House File 1012 that was also laid over for possible inclusion in a future bill.
As part of the Stewards’ work to protect native swans, other wildlife and people from toxic lead, we were thrilled that important Senate Bill 1595 and House File 2501 were introduced which are summarized as "Lead prohibited in ammunition for hunting and in fishing tackle, nontoxic standard established for shooting facilities and school shooting sports, and money appropriated." Unhappily, no hearings have been yet scheduled for either.
Volunteers Janette Dean and Steve Ring (of the Water and Wetlands Stewards group) also prepared a letter of support to be submitted at a coalition-requested hearing to fund and start the enactment of a pesticide-treated seed regulation program in Minnesota to significantly reduce the use of toxic systemic pesticides such as “neonicotinoids” and others via House File 2761 with 12 authors and Senate File 3083 with 4 authors so far. Since neither received a hearing by the normal deadline, our group has joined others to plead for at least an informational hearing this year to get a head start on its much-needed passage.
Stewards group member Shawn Kakuk will also continue to lead our work to advocate for existing and expanded gray wolf protections through our support of bills like Senate File 943, titled “Open season for taking wolves prohibition,” and Senate File 3226, which provides a “Wolf-livestock conflict prevention grants appropriation.” Both were introduced but not yet heard this session, even though they would increase and solidify our coexistence with one of Minnesota and the United States’ most iconic and beloved species, by the public who strongly favors its protection (Earthjustice, 2019).