Get ready to share your ideas for protecting the places you love!

NOTICE OF A PUBLIC LISTENING SESSION ON THE PRESIDENT’S AMERICA’S GREAT OUTDOORS INITIATIVE

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John Tuma’s Capitol Update – Summer Edition, July 1, 2010


“Logging roads have recently been indiscriminately slashed through and across park lands, disfiguring their beauty, and opening the way to all the dangers of forest conflagrations against many magnificent evergreen groves and promiscuous forests  which were numbered among the most valuable park holdings the state possessed.”

-  Jacob V. Brower, Former Itasca State Park Superintendent, May 9, 1904

Minnesota’s first state park, and still one of its jewels, was established in 1891 by order of the State Legislature and action by the U.S. Congress.  That happened in no small part due to the tireless citizen lobbying by Jacob V. Brower.  Born in Michigan, Brower moved to Minnesota as a young man.  In 1862 he volunteered to serve in the hastily mustered military regiment under Henry Sibley in response to the Sioux uprising on the western prairies.  He was happy to return to his home in Todd County after the campaign and eventually rose to serve his community as county auditor and county attorney.

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John Tuma’s Capitol Update – Summer Edition, June 18, 2010

“The eye takes in a score or more graceful promontories, capes and peninsulas, – running their moss and pine covered points down into the Lake. . .”
- Ossian E. Dodge, St. Paul Pioneer, September 20, 1865

The “Lake” that Ossian E. Dodge was referring to in his report to the St. Paul Pioneer newspaper in 1865 was that of Lake Vermilion.  With the recent closing on the purchase of the 3,000 acres from the U.S. Steel Co. setting the stage for the development of the first new major state park in nearly 30 years, it is worth reflecting on its creation.  The above quote from Mr. Dodge points out that this fifth largest lake in Minnesota has long played a critical role in our history.

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John Tuma’s Capitol Update – May 7, 2010

“The administration of government has become more complex.”
- US Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, June 1, 1931

Every aspiring attorney throughout this land of the free has to read in their constitutional law class this quote from the opinion in the landmark federal Supreme Court decision of Near v. Minnesota, which is viewed as a foundational case for the freedom of press. “Landmark decisions” are the rare cases that are truly game changers on our political or social fields of competition. Minnesota was the birthplace of the set of circumstances that gave birth to this great landmark decision regarding the freedom of press.

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On Great Lakes Town Hall this week, Elanne Palcich is educating readers across the region about the people, the places and the effect of past and proposed mining in Minnesota.

With all apologies for the delay, here are some quick updates from the capitol and a few other tidbits.

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The Healing our Waters Coalition has a new report out detailing participation in the Federal Farm Bill for states around the Great Lakes.  Admittedly, there is not a tremendous amount of farming going on in the Lake Superior watershed, but there is a lot in Minnesota and the health of Lake Superior is connected with the health of the Great Lakes as a whole as well.  The report has some interesting details about how many Minnesota farmers – and how much acreage - have been denied participation due to inadequate funding of the Farm Bill.

You can download the report with this link (PDF).

Have you ever wanted to record a rap song about how fire benefits a grassland ecosystem?  Well someone has beaten you to it. Two people actually.  I don’t know who they are, but Patrick Sullivan and Brett Smith have their names attached to this.  Word on the street is that they are associated with a fire crew for The Nature Conservancy.

You can hear it for yourself at: Grasslands.

The lyrics are found below…
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