Despite the bits of snow on the ground, summer is just around the corner for organizations in Minnesota that provide critical services to our parks, trails and natural areas. Groups like Conservation Corps  are ramping up their hiring for summer workers.

If you know a teenager, let them know about Conservation Corps. Youth ages 15-18 spend four weeks learning about natural resources and then working hard building trails, clearing brush, and generally making Minnesota an even better place to live. Kids from all over Minnesota participate. Unlike some fancy summer camps, the Corps actually gives its members money, in the form of a small stipend.  Applications are due in April.

Young adults, ages 18-25, have a huge range of opportunities in the Conservation Corps’ AmeriCorps program, and not just for summer. In fact, they’re hiring now for spring field crews in northern Minnesota.

Conservation Corps was originally known as Minnesota Conservation Corps, or MCC. It was a program housed inside the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. In the last ten years, the program was spun off from the DNR into a private nonprofit organization, but it’s never been more critical to getting the state’s natural resource work done.

Jobs versus the environment? Hah! Conservation Corps has jobs for the environment, and they’re hiring.

All caucuses are at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7. Find your precinct caucus on the Secretary of State’s website.

Precinct Caucuses Launch the Election Season
Major parties are required by law to hold precinct caucuses on “caucus night,” as set by the Secretary of State. Each party determines its own procedures.

Everyone who lives within a voting precinct and is a qualified voter (or will be by the next election) can participate in one party’s precinct caucus in any one year. (Precinct = local voting district)

First layer of democratic elections
The precinct caucus is the first step on the road to the final selection of candidates and platforms.  The next step is either a county or legislative district convention, followed by a congressional district convention, a state convention and finally, in presidential election years, the national convention.  At each level, issues and candidates are discussed and voted on by the delegates selected from the prior level.

Why should I attend my caucus?
Caucuses give you and your neighbors in the precinct an opportunity to discuss issues that are important to you – a chance to say how you would like to see a problem addressed.   It is also your opportunity to influence the candidate selection within your party.

You can introduce resolutions on issues you support; this is the beginning of building a party’s platform.  The caucus is also the beginning of the formal process of selecting candidates to represent your party in the general election in November.

You may take an active role by becoming a delegate to the next level of meetings and perhaps join a committee to plan the next meeting. You may choose to go only to observe the process.

How do I decide which party caucus to attend?
Find out the positions of the parties on issues that are important to you and decide if you are in general agreement with one of the parties.  When you sign in at a caucus, you will be stating that you do support the basic tenets of that party, have done so in the past or plan to in the next election.  This is not a lifetime commitment, nor even an absolute requirement to vote for only one party at the general election. You may also go to either party caucus as a non-voting observer.

When and where are the caucuses held?
In even years, caucuses for the major parties (as defined by state law) take place at 7:00 p.m. on the date established in every voting precinct of the state. Usually, they are held in early February. This year Precinct Caucuses are on Feb. 7th!

Here are some resolutions regarding environmental issues that you can download and share at your caucus:

• Prohibit toxic chemicals in children’s products
• Maintain community and township rights
• Keep Minnesota on the path to clean energy
• Increase renewable energy and energy conservation
• Protect the Legacy Amendment
• Preserve existing state budget laws in the state Constitution
• ‘Prove it first’ resolution on sulfide mining
• Protect Minnesota’s water from sulfide mining pollution
  • Fact sheet on sulfide mining
  • Sample script to introduce your resolution

If you’re planning to propose a resolution:

1. Give a brief introduction to the issue, why it is important, and generally what is says. Pass out resolution and factsheet (if you have one).
2. Read your resolution in full to fellow precinct members.
3. Answer questions to the best of your ability during discussion period (if needed).
4. Vote to pass the resolutions for which you agree.

Bonus tip — go early to pass out copies of your resolutions and answer questions before the caucus begins!

Learn more about how caucuses work and what to expect

Register online

Join us on Wednesday, Feb. 8, to network with state policy makers and volunteers and staff of MEP’s member organizations, discuss our legislative priorities, and hear from our state legislative and agency leaders about their views on current environmental issues.

The reception begins at 6 p.m. at the Summit Brewery’s Ratskeller Community Room. Enjoy an appetizer buffet and Summit beer and root beer. Bring your staff, spouse and friends – all are welcome! A brief program featuring guest speakers Rep. Denny McNamara, Sen. David Senjem, Rep. Kate Knuth and DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr will begin at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $25. Register and pay online. Please contact Patience Caso at the MEP office, 651-290-0154, with questions.

From Patience Caso, MEP campaign director, and Eric Bergstrom, legislative and campaign outreach

Welcome to the 2012 legislative session! You care about Minnesota’s Great Outdoors and you believe in making and safeguarding investments for future generations. Your voice is critical to protecting and defending our environmental policy foundation — your elected officials need to hear from you.

This year, we’re counting on you to join the members of the Minnesota Environmental Partnership and advocate for:

- Clean Energy & Good Jobs: Solar Works for Minnesota
Invest in clean energy to support our schools, help our local economy and create good jobs

- Safeguard Investments for Minnesota’s Future
Defend water, air, and land protections and the Clean Water, Land and Legacy funding

Act now to let Governor Dayton and your state legislators know that these investments are vital to Minnesota’s future. Not sure who your legislators are? That’s OK! When you fill out this form on Protect.MN, MEP’s campaign website, your message will automatically go to the right legislator.

Your input can make a difference! Deadline to take action is Feb. 7.

The spectators look confused. School spirit is suddenly stunningly low.

The cheerleaders plead all together, “What’s that spell?!”

Mumble-mumble-grumble, the spectators reply.

And yet TMDLs are the critical key that is unlocking the restoration of hundreds of Minnesota’s streams and lakes. Here on the North Shore, our polluted rivers are on their way to getting cleaned up, thanks to TMDLs.

Last week I tried to demystifying one acronym, BUIs. This acronym is harder because even if you know what the letters stand for, it’s still incomprehensible. TMDL stands for “Total Maximum Daily Load.”

The cheerleaders shouldn’t even bother asking “What’s that spell?,”  just “What’s that?”

Total Maximum Daily Load is a measurement, typically a weight in tons or pounds or grams. It’s the amount of any given pollutant that a river or lake can handle on its own and not get any dirtier. Agencies that work to protect our waters have said, essentially, yes there will be pollution, but it won’t be all that bad. Here’s the PCA’s official definition.

But TMDL is more than a number, it’s a process. Up here on the North Shore, we just finished the TMDL process for the Knife River, which flows into Lake Superior between Duluth and Two Harbors. The Knife is too muddy, especially when the waters are high. The sediment-laden water is hard on fish and icky for swimming. Fishing and swimming are beneficial uses of the river, and the sediment has impaired those uses. In comes the Clean Water Act and the MPCA to clean it up.

Through the TMDL process (LINK: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/water/water-types-and-programs/minnesotas-impaired-waters-and-tmdls/minnesotas-impaired-waters-and-total-maximum-daily-loads-tmdls.html), we now know how much sediment is in the river, how much should be in the river, and what we can do to reduce the amount of sediment to acceptable levels…down to the Total Maximum Daily Load.

The same process of field research, modeling and math has happened on 226 rivers and lakes across the state, for pollutants ranging from sediment to fecal coliform. Another 710 TMDL projects are underway.

I can tell you from our experience here on the North Shore, the more that common citizens on the ground get involved in the TMDL process, the better the result will be. Get involved. Then you will have something to cheer about.

Overall, the Legacy Amendment was established to ensure there would be long-term funding for these causes, and that the Legacy funds would not replace traditional (though recently fading) government funding for the arts and the outdoors.

Now, some Republican legislators want to divert Legacy money, specifically the arts and cultural heritage money, to help fund a new Vikings Stadium. There are nonprofits and community organizations across the state that rely on Legacy funding. The notion that Legacy money would be taken from these organizations and given to the for-profit business owners of the Vikings is shameful – and is definitely not what voters had in mind when they passed the Legacy Amendment.

Even more scary is the precedent that would be set by a move like this. If we designate a sports stadium as part of our “arts and cultural heritage,” what projects would politicians force into the “parks and trails” or “outdoor habitat” categories? It’s a slippery slope that we should just avoid all together.

Tell your legislators and Governor Dayton that Legacy Funds must be used as the voters intended!

Let’s be clear: This is not about whether the Vikings should get a new stadium or not. This is about whether a for-profit stadium project should receive funding that Minnesota voters approved to protect our water, Great Outdoors, arts and cultural heritage.

We stand behind the integrity of the Amendment, united with the arts community.

Speak up! Go to our Take Action form for an easy way to let YOUR legislators and Governor Dayton know you want them to OPPOSE using Legacy funds for a new stadium. Your input matters!

In part one, Steve and Nancy delve into the background of the proposal:

In part two, Steve and Nancy take calls from listeners:

Want to take action?
Go to Protect.MN for an easy way to let your legislators and Governor Dayton know you DON’T want them to use Legacy money to fund a new stadium.

You can listen to the whole show and download it as a podcast on AM950′s website.

Steve will be on Nancy’s show again Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 5:30 p.m. Tune in on your radio or listen online!

Minnesotans expect our leaders to do more to clean up and restore our lakes, rivers and streams – Minnesota voters passed the Legacy Amendment in 2008 to do just that! But is that money being used effectively?

Our state has a long way to go in cleaning up our water, and preventing future pollution.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reports that about 40% of Minnesota’s lakes and streams that they’ve tested are categorized as polluted. That means these waters don’t meet basic health standards for swimming or fishing – and definitely not drinking. What’s even more disturbing is that most of our lakes and rivers have yet to be tested! There is clearly more work that needs to be done to test these lakes to figure out where important clean-up work is most needed.

Minnesotans want money from the Legacy Amendment to be spent where it will be most effective.

In a poll conducted by a bipartisan polling team just last year, the majority of Minnesota voters said they wanted state funding to go where it would be most effective at reducing water pollution, as opposed to spreading it evenly throughout the state.

Unfortunately, the distribution of the money so far has been more driven by politics than need.

We are also learning more and more about the ties between agriculture runoff and water pollution.

Let’s be clear: There are Minnesota farmers who definitely want to protect the water. They do what they can to reduce pollutants, like following our current law that requires farmers to set up a natural filter of plants and grasses between their cultivated fields and river banks.

Unfortunately many Minnesota farmers are caught in a bad system that by its very design does not protect our lakes, rivers and streams: Large farm operators and people controlling this agricultural industry don’t want to change their system.

Even farmers acknowledge this. We talked with groups of farmers in rural Minnesota last year, and they definitely want to hold those large farm operators accountable for water pollution created by farms. Seventy-two percent of Minnesotans polled last year said they think farms should pay the cost of cleaning up their own water pollution, just like other businesses are required to do. This was supported by people from all walks of life, even by those who said their family is dependent on the farm economy.

So what can you or I do?

Learn more about the connections between agriculture and water pollution! One of Minnesota Environmental Partnership’s member organizations, Environment Minnesota, is hosting a breakfast forum on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the Red Stag Supperclub in Minneapolis.

The event will feature discussions with experts and farmers who have personal experiences with the issues of pollution and sustainable farming.

Go to www.EnvironmentMinnesota.org to learn about the breakfast, which is part of Environment Minnesota’s Green Ideas & Ham event series.

Listen to their conversation by clicking play below.

You can listen to the whole show and download it as a podcast on AM950′s website.

Steve will be on Nancy’s show again Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 5:30 p.m. Tune in on your radio or listen online!

State Budget

Defending traditional sources of funding for our Great Outdoors was a significant part of MEP’s work at the Capitol this year. Though the legislature proposed a drastic 22 percent cut to environmental programs and services in their initial Omnibus Environmental Finance Bill, this legislation was vetoed by Governor Dayton. Later, in the compromise bill put together by the Governor and the Legislature during special session, overall state general fund expenditures increased significantly, but environmental funding was still cut by 14 percent. The Pollution Control Agency alone – whose workers ensure that Minnesota’s air, water and land are safe – has a 40 percent cut to its state support in this compromise bill.

This disproportionate, 14 percent cut severely impairs our state’s ability to protect and restore our lakes, rivers, streams, habitat, parks and more. These significant cuts go against Minnesota voters’ clear wishes to do more, not less, to protect our state’s water and Great Outdoors.

A proposed hunting and fishing license fee increase would have provided additional funds to the game and fish fund, and a proposed increase in the boat license registration surcharge would have provided additional revenue for the Aquatic Invasive Species program. The final budget failed to include any fee increases. These increases were supported by MEP and other stakeholders and the Governor’s administration.

Legacy Amendment

The Legislature passed the Legacy Amendment Appropriations Bill during special session and it was signed by Governor Dayton. The bill largely followed the recommendations from the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council and the Clean Water Council.

Policy Defense

There were many bad policies proposed by the Legislature that MEP advocated against, both through lobbying and through public outreach. We are pleased that several of these policies were ultimately defeated:

• Logging our state parks
• Repealing the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area designation rules
• Imposing a two-year freeze on creating or updating any and all water regulations
• Repealing Minnesota’s 17-year-old moratorium on building new nuclear power plants
• Unraveling restrictions on pollution from newly constructed coal-fired power plants, a critical part of the 2007 Next Generation Energy Act

Unfortunately, there were policies signed into law that are bad for our state’s Great Outdoors. Although the environment and conservation community was able to limit the severity of these harmful policies, the provisions that became law will take some of the Great out of our Great Outdoors:

• Protections for water quality standards in wild rice waters were weakened*
• Requirements for feedlots were weakened*
• The streamlining of environmental review and permitting process that provides an exemption to the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB), allows the proposer to conduct its own environmental review, and makes it harder for citizens to access the courts
• A special exemption for the Spiritwood coal plant in North Dakota, which is now allowed to import coal-fired electricity into Minnesota, without having to reduce excess pollution
• A special exemption for Lutsen Ski Resort to extract water from the Poplar River, a designated trout stream already undergoing a clean-up plan, further endangering the trout and the health of the river

(*Both these policies set the dangerous precedent of implementing only the minimum environmental protections required under federal law. These policy riders were included in the compromise budget bill passed during special session.)

Solar Campaign

One of MEP’s collaborative priorities for 2011 was the Solar Works for Minnesota campaign, which is pursuing a 10 percent solar energy standard by 2030 for Minnesota. The solar campaign’s first year focused on building partnerships among advocacy groups, businesses and labor, and it has successfully built their coalition to more than 125 member organizations.

The campaign also worked at the Capitol, laying the groundwork to pass legislation by introducing the Minnesota Solar Energy Act in the state House and Senate. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Mark Phillips has agreed to put together a multi-agency task force to study the economic benefits of 10% solar energy for our state. The coalition is also working with the Division of Energy Resources to study various aspects of increasing solar energy in Minnesota. The campaign continues to work with Governor Dayton’s administration to develop additional policy strategies that support the Minnesota Solar Energy Act.